U.S. Department of Homeland Security investigations of cyber attacks on the nation’s critical manufacturing sector nearly doubled in the year ended Sept. 30, says the agency.
According to Reuters, The Department of Homeland Security’s Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity Emergency Response Team said in a report distributed this week that it investigated 97 incidents at critical manufacturers during its most-recent fiscal year.
That category includes makers of vehicles and other types of transportation equipment as well as metals, machinery and electrical equipment producers.
The agency said that altogether it responded to a total of 295 cyber incidents, up 20 percent from the previous fiscal year.
This report comes on the heels of reports that the director of the Cyber Emergency Response Team Marty Edwards, reportedly said the industrial control systems are so accessible that they are "just hanging right off the tubes."
Edwards said he believed the increase in attacks was mainly because more control systems are directly connected to the Internet.
