Manufacturing sector: ‘Attacks have increased in multiple regions’

A global cyber security company disclosed Thursday that the attacks on the manufacturing sector during first quarter of 2026 has been increased in multiple regions, warning Pakistani companies to improve their cybersecurity controls. According to a new Kaspersky ICS CERT report, in first quarter-2026 the percentage of industrial control systems (ICS) on which malicious objects were blocked reached 19.6 percent globally. Kaspersky security solutions blocked malware from 10,052 different malware families of various categories on industrial automation systems. Regionally, the share of ICS computers that were attacked ranged from 27.4 percent in Africa to 9.1 percent in Northern Europe. Compared to the previous quarter, attacks on the manufacturing sector in Q1 increased in multiple regions, including in Europe and Asia.