Gartner anticipates that up to 75% of CEOs could be liable for IoT attacks due to an introduction of heightened regulations regarding “cyber-physical systems” (CPSs) and operational technology (OT). These so called CPSs, such as IoT attacks, are described as “engineered to orchestrate sensing, computation, control, networking and analytics to interact with the physical world, including humans” by Gartner in their report.
Cyber-attacks have increasingly lead to human casualties rather than simply service outages or data loss. These attacks have been known to highjack life-saving medical devices such as drug dispensers or even remotely controlling a car resulting in fatal crashes, for example.
These detrimentally damaging CPS attacks could create major financial damage for corporations in time, with Gartner predicting $50 billion worth of economic damage by 2023.
“Regulators and governments will react promptly to an increase in serious incidents resulting from failure to secure CPSs, drastically increasing rules and regulations governing them,” said Katell Thielemann, research vice president at Gartner.
