Security News > 2021 > February > Number of ICS Vulnerabilities Continued to Increase in 2020: Report
The number of vulnerabilities discovered in industrial control system products in 2020 increased significantly compared to previous years, according to a report released on Thursday by industrial cybersecurity firm Claroty.
According to Claroty, the number of ICS vulnerabilities disclosed in 2020 was nearly 25% higher compared to 2019 and close to 33% higher than in 2018.
The company believes this increase is likely the result of heightened awareness of the risks posed by vulnerabilities in industrial products, as well as researchers and vendors putting more effort into identifying and patching security holes.
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"The steady growth of reported ICS vulnerabilities is noteworthy in terms of maturation, but currently, it's also largely limited to three vendors: Schneider, Mitsubishi, and Siemens. A large majority of the products with disclosed and patched vulnerabilities in the 2H of 2020 belong to those three leading vendors; the remaining vendors had combined relatively fewer products affected by vulnerabilities," Claroty said in its report.
It added, "Does this mean that the smaller number of vendors we looked at have cleaner, more secure products? Likely, no. Instead, it's more of an issue of accessibility to equipment for a growing number of researchers; market leaders have an abundance of equipment inside organizations that can be assessed for security flaws. Some of this gear that has been retired can also be purchased on eBay and other platforms for research purposes."