Most building management systems exposed to cyber vulnerabilities, experts warn

Three out of four companies have building management systems vulnerable to hacking or cyberattack, according to a new research paper by Claroty, a cyber-physical systems protection company. More than half of affected organizations had systems insecurely connected to the internet with known exploited vulnerabilities that were linked to ransomware, it said. 

The report studied over 467,000 building management systems across 500 organizations. Within those organizations, 2% of devices essential to business operations were operating at the highest level of risk exposure, according to the report. 

The high exposure level of these devices provides malicious cyber actors with easily accessible entry points that “leave the door open to costly and potentially dangerous disruptions,” Claroty said in a release. This combination of risk factors is concerning due to the widespread reliance on these systems to operate HVAC, lighting, energy, security and other systems in commercial real estate, retail, hospitality and data center facilities, the company said. 

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