military invasion Ukraine and the conflict between Russia and western powers The risk of cyberattacks of all kinds has increased, especially on infrastructures considered strategic to keep essential services up and running. HE department National Security Subordinate directly to the Presidency of Government, Spanish (DSN) not only warns of escalating threats in its latest annual report, it also Rapidly increasing cyber sabotage against critical assets during the war year.
Critical infrastructures in both the public and private sectors 15,507 cyber incidents It is reported to the Cyber Security Coordination Office of the Ministry of Interior, which represents the Strong increase of 43% compared to 10,831 of the previous year. Of the total attacks, 9,321 were high threat (60.1%), 494 were very high risk (3.2%), but none were rated as critical.
Half of attacks against transports
“Cyber threats remain one of the main threats to critical infrastructures in Spain, behind most incidents detected in 2022,” explains National Security. Almost half of all cyberattacks (up to 7,676 incidents) targeted computer-related infrastructures. transportation industryresulting risk to national and global supply chains at a critical time due to war and post-covid economic recovery.
This public administrations (with 3,033 attacks), financial system (2,247) and water supply services Other industries have accumulated the largest number of cyber sabotage attempts against strategic assets in 2022, with a record number of incidents (with 2,160). With strong computer damage attacks (especially ransomware and denial of service), in 2022, key service operators experienced a “significant increase” in attacks focused on obtaining personal data.
In Spain they are recognized by the Government as i.critical infrastructures 647 facilities energy, water supply, management, telecommunications, transportation or financial sectors controlled by 240 operators, both public and private.
Upcoming cyber threats
Homeland Security warns of imminent threats and which sectors are most at risk. And the Moncloa-affiliated Department warned that the risk of exposure to cyber incidents, particularly cyber sabotage, was “significantly increased” (possibly cybercriminal cover-ups).ransomware) and cyberactivism (denial-of-service attacks) national critical infrastructures, “especially those related to the energy sector”.
In 2022, there was an increase in the number of attacks that compromise supply chains, and “this trend is expected to continue in 2023.” “There has been an increase in, among others, cyberattacks on critical infrastructures related to the transport sector from NATO countries. by pro-Russian actors” highlights DSN. Likewise, National Security predicts an increase in disruptive cyberattacks on networks (computer network attacks) against critical infrastructures of foreign states in both information technology and operations.