A recent study conducted by professional services firm AON in association with Cyence Risks Analytics product team at Guidewire says that hydroelectric power stations in the United States are vulnerable to cyber attacks which could impact business owners and homeowners residing in the vicinity of the water bodies.
According to the report titled Silent Cyber Scenario, malware intrusions have devastated industrial control systems of water bodies to such an extent that hackers can gain access to cause physical damage to systems when compromised.
Experimenting with the scenario developed by AON and Guidewire’s Cyence Risk Analytics team, a hacker is seen manipulating the industrial control systems to such an extent that they have the ability to control the opening of dam gates causing significant downstream flooding which can result in heavy losses for cyber insurers- as they need to pay at a time to those who lost money in property loss and other casualties.
Researchers who conducted the survey have come to a conclusion that damage to dam operations could also lead to the resilience of local businesses and communities, with the economic loss anticipated to be highest at $56 billion USD.
Alongside, it could also show a negative impact on those offering cyber insurance as they can also incur losses of up to the US $10 billion.
AON specifies in the report that the aim of its survey is to help insurers understand the underlying silent cyber risks. Means, businesses must think about the security risks that new technologies could bring into their environments, including potential impacts on their clients and communities.
