Forescout Reports on The Riskiest Connected Devices in Enterprise Networks at GITEX 2022

• Manufacturing sector has the highest number of affected devices

Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Forescout Technologies, the global leader in automated cybersecurity, released its findings about the riskiest devices in enterprise networks in 2022 at GITEX.

In this region, network-attached storage is the riskiest and these devices often have both easy-to-exploit vulnerabilities and internet connectivity, thus they are constantly targeted by threat actors for ransomware, botnets, crypto mining, or simply data destruction.

“At Forescout, we are keen to raise awareness and let government entities and businesses know exactly where the vulnerabilities lie with their network. Our research team has done a fantastic job identifying which industry verticals are being targeted relentlessly and which connected devices are most at risk, globally and here across the region,” commented Ihab Moawad, Vice President, Forescout, Middle East, Turkey, and Africa.

Manufacturing has the highest percentage of devices with high risk (11%), while government and financial have the top combinations of medium and high risk (43% for government and 37% for financial). Healthcare and retail have the lowest risk overall, with 20% of devices having medium or high risk in healthcare and 18% in retail.

The ranking of riskiest devices does not change considerably per industry, which shows that almost every organization nowadays relies on a combination of IT, IoT, and OT (as well as IoMT for healthcare) to deliver their business. It also means that almost every organization is affected by a growing attack surface. The riskiest IT and OT devices remain nearly constant across different regions, while the riskiest IoT devices change slightly and the riskiest IoMT devices change considerably.

“GITEX gives us this global platform to showcase our Automated Cybersecurity Solutions that protect any digital terrain. Forescout is here to help companies understand and mitigate risks that come with digital transformation, the rapid growth of IoT devices across organizations, and the convergence of IT and OT networks that is encouraging the rise of ransomware-as-a-service gangs,” added Moawad.

At GITEX 2022, organizations and…