Honeywell: How USBs are Threatening Industrials

Honeywell

Feb 13, 2019

By Honeywell

Removable USB media devices such as flash drives are commonplace and convenient when it comes to sharing information – those tiny flash drives can hold a lot of data.

And, it turns out, a lot of malicious threats.

At industrials, USBs are often used by employees and contractors visiting sites to share and transfer files and update patches.

Our new research shows that they also pose a significant cybersecurity threat to industrial networks. While monitoring 50 industrial plants in the energy, oil and gas, chemical and paper and pulp industries across the world for cybersecurity threats through our new Secure Media Exchange (SMX) solution, we caught Stuxnet, Mirai and WannaCry lurking in the USB drives.

Here’s a sample of the findings:

44% detected and blocked at least one security issue
This confirms that USBs remain a significant vector for industrial threats. It has become easy for hackers to spread malware, ransomware attacks, steal confidential data and bring down production sites through USBs.

26% of those threats were major 

These weren’t just blips – they could lead to significant disruption by causing operators to lose visibility or control of their operations.

15% of threats were high-profile and well-known

Odds are you’ve heard of these worms and viruses, including Stuxnet (2 percent), Mirai (6 percent), Triton (2 percent) and WannaCry (1 percent). They’ve existed for a long time and they were attempting to enter industrial facilities via removable storage devices in high density.

9% were designed to exploit USBs

Most of the malware detected were Trojans (55 percent), followed by bots (11 percent) and hacktools (6 percent).
And 9 percent were designed to directly exploit USB protocol and interface weaknesses, making them especially effective.

Read the full report here.

Related Articles


Latest Articles


Changing Scene

  • Siemens to Establish Global AI Manufacturing Technologies R&D Center for Battery & EV Production in Canada

    Siemens to Establish Global AI Manufacturing Technologies R&D Center for Battery & EV Production in Canada

    May 26, 2025 Siemens will invest CAD $150 million over five years to establish a Global AI Manufacturing Technologies Research and Development (R&D) Center for Battery Production in Canada. The new R&D center, located initially at Siemens Canada’s head office in Oakville, as well as in Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, will focus on developing cutting-edge AI manufacturing technologies with an initial emphasis… Read More…

  • Honda Postponing Ontario EV Supply Chain Investment by Two Years

    Honda Postponing Ontario EV Supply Chain Investment by Two Years

    May 26, 2025 Honda is postponing its plan to invest in a comprehensive EV supply chain in Ontario. The CBC reported that the investment is being push back by two years. “Due to the recent slowdown of the EV market, Honda Motor has announced an approximate two-year postponement of the comprehensive value chain investment project in Canada…. Read More…

  • Serge Leblanc Named Sonepar Canada Interim President

    Serge Leblanc Named Sonepar Canada Interim President

    May 26, 2025 George McClean, former President of Sonepar Canada, has decided to leave Sonepar for an opportunity outside of the electrical industry. Serge Leblanc, current President of Lumen Canada, has been appointed interim President of Sonepar Canada. Leblanc will manage both responsibilities until a successor is named.  Leblanc joined Lumen in 1997 and has… Read More…

  • Ontario Building and Construction Tradeswomen Head to Queens Park to Advocate for Safer, More Inclusive Job Sites

    Ontario Building and Construction Tradeswomen Head to Queens Park to Advocate for Safer, More Inclusive Job Sites

    May 26, 2025 On Monday, May 26, the Ontario Building and Construction Tradeswomen (OBCT), will host its first-ever Advocacy Day at Queen’s Park. Tradeswomen from across the province will gather to meet with Members of Provincial Parliament, including Minister of Labour David Piccini, to advocate for progress in the skilled trades for tradeswomen. OBCT’s top priorities include:… Read More…