- ICS risk now depends heavily on geography. Facilities running similar control systems face very different threat levels based on local security practices, infrastructure maturity, and access controls.
- Africa recorded the highest ICS threat exposure in Q3 2025, with 27.4% of computers blocking malicious activity, compared to just 9.2% in Northern Europe.
- The global ICS threat rate is falling, hitting 20.1% in Q3 2025, the lowest since 2022, but this decline hides growing risks in specific regions.
In 2025, the cyber reality of two facilities running similar industrial control systems (ICS) may vary depending on where they are located. A manufacturing plant in Northern Europe may run its production lines with almost no internet access, strict USB controls, and layered email filtering. An engineering firm in parts of Africa or East Asia may rely on shared networks, third-party remote access tools, and cloud-hosted project files to keep operations moving.
This difference in the day-to-day operations is visible in the latest threat data from Kaspersky. In Q3 2025, the percentage of ICS computers where malicious objects were blocked varied from 9.2% in Northern Europe to a concerning 27.4% in Africa. This disparity shows the differences globally in infrastructure maturity, adoption of ICS security practices, regular policies, and modern tools used to protect industrial systems.
MORE INSIGHTS ON THIS TOPIC:
- Aisuru Botnet Sets New DDoS Records in Q3 2025
- Non-mobile IT threats evolve into industrial-scale attacks in Q3 2025
- Mobile devices face unseen war as banking trojans, ransomware, and adware surge in Q3 2025
