With many industries relying on technology for critical functionality, it is imperative that they focus on cyber security to prevent any breach in their systems that could adversely affect their business and the people who are dependent on their products and services. In previous days, security were pretty easy. IT assets were safely kept behind firewalls and proxies, which did not leave the secure confines of the data center. With good access controls, this system would pretty much be impenetrable. But with the technology available today like smartphones, the cloud, IoT (internet of Things) and the always connected devices that consume data every second, there are vulnerabilities popping up at every turn just because of the connectivity available today.

Some recent examples of such vulnerabilities include the Petya and the WannaCry ransomware that has plagued several critical industries, schools, hospitals, businesses and individual users through the world. To get on top of these issues and to plug up these vulnerabilities will take a lot of efforts on the part of the affected companies and by the regulatory agencies.

Which industries really need cyber security today?

No industry is immune from cyber attacks, and it comes when they are least suspecting it. With dozens of attacks happening every single day, organizations need to prepare and be ready with action plans to fight against such attacks and to prevent them from happening. Intellectual property theft is rampant, and companies must do all they can to prevent them from happening. Let us take a look at some industries that are heavily affected as a result of these cyber attacks.

1. The Banking industry

The banking industry is the first choice target for most hackers as it is the most financially rewarding option. With the information gained from this industry like credit card numbers, bank account details and other information, hackers can go to town, scamming people out of their hard earned money. This is a critical sector and an attack on this industry will affect millions of people.

2. Critical utilities

With critical utilities like electric power grids, gas pipelines, industrial control systems coming online with interconnectivity to other devices that can control parameters and monitor them, they are very vulnerable to attack by hackers, and any such attack can cripple millions, if not a billion people. ICS/SCADA security aims to deal with this very problem by safeguarding critical systems.

3. Healthcare

The healthcare industry deals with a mountain load of data and is very often targeted by hackers hoping to gain access to the medical records of patients which are usually confidential. If critical medical devices are online like pacemakers, they also can be targeted by hackers, and as such stringent security protocols like the OT cyber security and the SOAR cyber security protocols must be put in place to prevent hackers from gaining access to the systems and thus safe guard the patients.

Being proactive is the key to stopping these attacks from causing any permanent damage. If the industries will invest time and money into developing solutions to tackle on these problems, then it will be beneficial for the industry as a whole.