McAfee has identified the energy sector as the biggest target for cyber crime, with a third of surveyed respondents considering it the most vulnerable industry segment and 42% indicating it could be the most detrimental if attacked.
In light of this, McAfee says it has developed a multi-point plan focusing on several critical and available industries, including the energy, telecommunications and transportation sectors.
In the US transportation sector, an attack has the potential to bring the economy to a halt by curbing export and imports, according to McAfee. The SoBig virus infected one of the key sectors' companies, shutting down signalling, dispatching and other systems.
“As the issues surrounding critical infrastructure continue to come to light, it is clear that action needs to be taken by both the technology industry and government,” says former US White House cyber security adviser, Howard Schmidt.
Framework focus
Dave DeWalt, McAfee president and CEO, says: “McAfee embraces the protection of not only people and companies from online threats, but whole industry sectors and governments charged with protecting the infrastructure upon which their nations rely.”
McAfee's multi-point plan aims to provide a framework that will focus on three core areas, namely law and policy, education and awareness, and research and innovation.
The company says it will work to help both government and industry understand the value of public/private partnerships, providing technical, business process and policy advice to leaders in both the executive and legislative branches of government.
According to McAfee, experts are seeing a rise in the use of social engineering tactics to gain information to access networks. The implication is that anyone, anywhere can potentially access these assets for their own purposes.
Share