Industrial enterprises with multiple locations face IT infrastructure, information security issues every month: Kaspersky report reveals

ISLAMABAD: One in three industrial companies encounter regular network problems, with 45% of businesses experiencing them a few times a month, while only 12% of respondents stated they face such challenges once a year or less. These are the findings highlighted by Kaspersky in its report, which investigated the network and information security challenges faced by geo-distributed companies.

Industrial companies usually operate using a geographically distributed infrastructure with factories, branch offices and other critical facilities located in different sites.

Industrial enterprises with multiple locations regularly face IT infrastructure and information security issues. According to the Kaspersky report titled ‘Managing geographically distributed businesses: challenges and solutions’, 49% of manufacturing companies found the effective detection and resolution of cybersecurity incidents was the most challenging task. They also cited monitoring the implementation of security measures (46%) and building a cohesive security policy (42%) as significant difficulties.

Almost 30% of respondents stated that they regularly experienced network problems such as network failures or outages, poor performance of services and applications, and inadequate connection capacity. 38% of them encountered such challenges one to three times a month, while 28% faced them every couple of months, and 7% even experienced them every week.

Regarding the time required to restore the network after a failure or an outage, the majority of respondents (74%) said they usually needed between 1 and 5 hours, while 15% stated they spent no more than 1 hour, and 10% required up to one full working day. Downtimes like these lead to significant financial and reputational damage and can cost thousands of dollars per minute and even more per hour.

“Network issues in industrial enterprises often result in delays, a decline in production levels, financial losses, and reputational risks. Therefore, companies should protect their operations to ensure business continuity. By understanding the potential causes of network problems and implementing timely strategic measures, companies can combat these challenges and safeguard all the processes,” says Maxim Kaminsky, Business Development Manager, Secure Access Service Edge, at Kaspersky.

To minimize the possibility of network problems and build reliable comprehensive protection for all assets and processes in industrial companies, Kaspersky recommends using OT XDR platforms such as Kaspersky Industrial CyberSecurity (KICS), offering centralized asset and risk management, security and compliance audit, and unparalleled scalability, providing industrial networks and automation systems with reliable protection. To manage corporate network from a single console, organizations can use a specialized solution like Kaspersky SD-WAN. This product integrates separate communication channels and network functions across companies, and improves application performance, facilitating the construction of reliable networks and maintaining geo-distributed businesses. If companies need advanced protection, they can combine both solutions. The integration of Kaspersky SD-WAN and Kaspersky Industrial.