An intrusion spreading through a data network linking an automobile production line and design blueprints. AI-generated image
South Korea has the fifth-largest number of internet-exposed devices tied to industrial control systems, or ICS, which run domestic factories and key infrastructure. With more devices exposed on the so-called attack surface — potential entry points for external cyberattacks — than in manufacturing powers such as Germany, Japan and China, warning lights are flashing over the security of industrial facilities.
An analysis of ICS and operational technology exposure by country, conducted using the cybersecurity search engine Shodan, found 3,891 industrial control devices in South Korea detectable over the internet, according to findings released on the 1st. That ranks fifth worldwide, behind the United States with 18,881, Italy with 5,684, Spain with 5,479 and Turkey with 4,680. The figure was 21% higher than Germany’s 3,228 and 31% higher than Japan’s 2,971, and 1.8 times China’s 2,194.
The analysis was additional research conducted between Oct. 26 and 29 by a team that published a related paper in July in the Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information, a journal indexed in the Korea Citation Index of the National Research Foundation of Korea. ICS are used to control production equipment at manufacturing plants as well as key national infrastructure including power, water and transportation. Not every device detected on the internet is actually vulnerable to hacking, but weak access controls can turn such devices into infiltration routes for attackers. The finding that South Korea has more exposed industrial control devices than leading manufacturing nations has prompted calls to review how industrial facilities here are connected externally and how access to them is controlled.
Yoon Seung-han, head of the technology infringement analysis team at the Defense Agency for Technology and Quality, who led the research, said internet exposure of industrial control devices could threaten not only the stable operation of the nation’s industrial base but also national security.