Microsoft’s Cyber Signals report highlights a rise in cyber risks to critical infrastructure

The third edition of Cyber Signals, a yearly report which highlights security trends and insights from Microsoft’s 8,500 security experts and 43 trillion daily security signals, was recently launched. In this edition, experts present new information on broader threats to critical infrastructure posed by converging information technologies, the Internet of Things (IoT), and operational technology (OT) systems. 

Some of the report’s highlights include:

  • Unpatched, high-security vulnerabilities identified in 75% of the most common industrial controllers in customer OT networks.
  • Over one million connected devices publicly visible on the internet running Boa, an outdated and unsupported software widely used in IoT devices and software development kits.
  • An 78% increase in disclosures of high-severity vulnerabilities from 2020 to 2022 in industrial control equipment produced by popular vendors.