Analyst comment (Jennifer Lyn Walker): It’s unclear if KnowBe4 has any empirical data at all or is just rehashing widely available reporting and making assumptions or quoting statistics from other’s research – it seems more like the latter. However, what KnowBe4 typically does well is provide resources to help organizations improve cyber resilience. The report does mention a couple of old incidents that impacted the water and wastewater sector. We are providing this report simply for awareness.

In a new report, security awareness training and simulated phishing platform firm KnowBe4 highlights the growing threat of cyber attacks on critical infrastructure. The report indicates that, in recent years, there has been a notable rise in cyberattacks aimed at critical infrastructure worldwide, with a 30% increase in a single year, presenting major threats to national security and economic stability.

Statistics from the report include:

• Vulnerable points in U.S. power grids are increasing by about 60 each day, with the overall total rising from 21,000 in 2022 to between 23,000 and 24,000 currently.
• The global average of weekly cyberattacks on utilities has surged fourfold since 2020, with a doubling of incidents in 2023 alone.
• From January 2023 to January 2024, critical infrastructure worldwide faced over 420 million attacks—averaging 13 attacks per second—representing a 30% rise compared to 2022.

For more information and to access the full report, visit KnowBe4.