One of the reports coming from Positive Technologies has gone on to identify the transportation sector as one of the top ten most targeted sectors by cybercriminals in 2023. The overall evaluation goes on to show quite a disturbing 36% rise in successful attacks vis-à-vis the year before, highlighting the imperative requirement for cybersecurity measures that are indeed robust.
It is worth noting that malware goes on to be the dominant tactic, which has been made use of in 35% of the attacks, predominantly by way of ransomware. Vulnerabilities happened to be exploited in 18% of cases, whereas the supply chain accounted for 8% of the overall incidents.
Cyber-attack sophistication is rising by the day, with initial access to company infrastructure getting sold on to the dark web for prices that happen to range from $50 to more than $20000. All this depends on the kind of access as well as the size of the organization.
This has been quite a visible trend in the cybercrime spectrum, with a massive array of tools concerning ransomware available to be bought on the darknet forums, hence posing quite a prominent threat to organizations through all the transportation modes.
Interestingly, around 8% of the attacks happened to be conducted via third-party services, underscoring the dangers associated with interconnected systems.
More than 50% of the data that’s stolen happened to involve personal information, with even trade secrets making up another quarter.
Apparently, a major breach was reported in Iran, wherein an attack on a taxi booking application went on to compromise 33 million users’ data.
The cyberattack impact
When we mention the railway sector, disruptions can go on to block freight transport and even harm vital cargo.
In terms of aviation, crucial failures take place in bookings as well as luggage systems, in addition to glitches in navigation.
When we talk of the maritime industry, ship balance as well as fuel management system issues can go on to cause very severe incidents.
Prominent disruptions in traffic management as well as public transportation systems can take place in urban areas.