Report: DDoS Cyberattacks Pile Pressure on Critical Manufacturing Sector

March 22, 2022
Industrial and manufacturing sectors are observing their critical infrastructure become prime targets of Distributed Denial of Service invasions.

Distributed Denial of Services (DDoS) attacks refer to malicious breaks in normal traffic of a server or distributed network. The good news is the number of DDoS attacks went from 5.4 million attacks over the first half of the year to 4.4 million attacks in the second half of 2021, said Richard Hummel, a threat research lead at Netscout, a cybersecurity, service assurance and business analytics solution provider. The bad news is adversaries are finding alternative ways—aside from sheer volume of attacks—to be able to harm the digital supply chain (software publishers, computer manufacturing and computer storage manufacturing), he said. 

According to a Netscout Threat Intelligence Report bi-annual report, cybercriminals launched 606% more attacks against software publishers, 162% more attacks against computer manufacturers and 263% more attacks against computer storage manufacturers. Adversaries going after VPNs or DNS servers or internet exchanges—the networks that allow us to communicate, Hummel explained during a screencast with Machine Design. “They are going after this fundamental layer of what allows us to get on the internet and are specifically going after these manufacturers,” he said.

Click here to access the Netscout Threat Intelligence Report.

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About the Author

Rehana Begg | Editor-in-Chief, Machine Design

As Machine Design’s content lead, Rehana Begg is tasked with elevating the voice of the design and multi-disciplinary engineer in the face of digital transformation and engineering innovation. Begg has more than 24 years of editorial experience and has spent the past decade in the trenches of industrial manufacturing, focusing on new technologies, manufacturing innovation and business. Her B2B career has taken her from corporate boardrooms to plant floors and underground mining stopes, covering everything from automation & IIoT, robotics, mechanical design and additive manufacturing to plant operations, maintenance, reliability and continuous improvement. Begg holds an MBA, a Master of Journalism degree, and a BA (Hons.) in Political Science. She is committed to lifelong learning and feeds her passion for innovation in publishing, transparent science and clear communication by attending relevant conferences and seminars/workshops. 

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