As IoT devices become more common in industrial and enterprise settings, the risk from IoT-specific malware is increasing dramatically. Cybersecurity leader Zscaler has released a research report that tracks these risks and highlights trends in the IoT malware landscape.
The Zscaler ThreatLabz research team found several key changes that have occurred in IoT malware since 2022:
- IoT device traffic has increased by 18% since last year as more consumer and enterprise users have embraced smart office, connected, devices
- As a result of this increase in devices, IoT malware attacks grew 400% since 2022
- The manufacturing industry was the top target for IoT malware and bears the brunt of blocked IoT malware attacks - 54.5% of all attacks are on manufacturing businesses.
- Education experienced a substantial increase in IoT malware attacks over the last 12 months, with a 961% jump in attacks
- Geographically, businesses in Mexico and the United States were the most targeted, accounting for 69.3% of IoT cyberattacks
On average, this equates to 6,000 weekly attacks across all tracked devices
IoT botnets continue to dominate, with the Mirai and Gafgyt malware families accounting for 66% of attacks, mainly targeting vulnerabilities that have not been patched in 3+ years.