Unraveling Industrial Cybersecurity Challenges at GITEX Africa Morocco 2024

As the highly anticipated GITEX Africa Morocco 2024 event unfolds from May 29th to 31st in Marrakech, Kaspersky has unveiled a comprehensive report on industrial cybersecurity for countries in the region. This report sheds light on the paramount challenges confronting industrial enterprises in the realm of cybersecurity.

Surge in Phishing Attempts

According to Kaspersky's report, the first quarter of 2024 witnessed a notable surge in phishing attack attempts. Kaspersky's technologies detected a staggering 32% increase in phishing link attack attempts compared to the same period in 2023. This spike specifically targeted phishing links related to financial matters, such as e-commerce, banking, and payment systems.

Overall Decline in Malicious Infections

While the percentage of industrial control system (ICS) computers on which malicious objects were blocked slightly decreased from 21.7% in the last quarter of 2023 to 21.4% in the first quarter of 2024, this proportion varied significantly across regions. In Africa, a concerning 32.4% of ICS computers were targeted by malicious objects, in stark contrast to a mere 11.5% in Northern Europe. Africa remains the region with the highest percentage of ICS computers affected by malicious attacks.

Trends in Morocco

In Morocco, several sectors experienced a significant decline in the number of infected devices between the first quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024. Both the construction and energy sectors witnessed an 8% reduction in the number of infected devices, while the engineering sector saw a 7% decrease.

In terms of attack vectors, email-based attacks decreased by 2% (from 6.59% to 4.51%), and USB-based attacks declined by 3% (from 6.62% to 3.88%). Malicious script and phishing page attacks, the most prevalent, registered a 4% decrease (from 11.10% to 7.10%).

Threats and Techniques Employed

Malicious scripts are frequently employed by threat actors for various harmful activities, such as information gathering, user activity tracking, browser request redirection to malicious web resources, and the direct download of unwanted programs, including spyware or crypto-mining tools, into users' browsers.

Kaspersky's report underscores the growing importance of cybersecurity for industrial enterprises in the region. Despite a slight decline in infections in certain sectors, the threat of phishing attacks and the use of malicious scripts remain major challenges. Efforts to improve security and raise awareness among enterprises about these threats must continue to effectively protect critical infrastructures.

GITEX Africa Morocco offers an ideal platform to discuss these issues and share best practices in industrial cybersecurity, thereby contributing to enhancing the resilience of enterprises against the ever-increasing cyber threats.