(Bloomberg) -- Hackers are increasingly targeting industrial facilities, from oil refineries to nuclear power plants, with sophisticated attacks aimed at capturing data and remotely controlling the sites, according to a Honeywell International Inc. executive.

Honeywell has seen evidence of threats from nation-states and "sponsored attackers" backed by nations in two-thirds of the 30 industrial sectors the company tracks at its Duluth, Georgia-based cyber research lab, according to Eric Knapp, chief cyber security engineer at Honeywell Process Solutions. The unit provides cyber security for more than 400 industrial sites worldwide, including oil and gas producers, chemical and power plants, natural gas processors, and mining and water treatment facilities.

"We’ve seen that there’s definitely increasing exposure to what we call high-capability threat actors," Knapp said in a phone interview. "Nation-state and sponsored attackers are definitely out there, and they’re definitely focusing on these industries."

Ukraine attack

Knapp wouldn’t name specific countries but said that the advanced hacking methods being detected are typically associated with nations or groups they sponsor. A U.S. indictment unsealed in March accused a hacker based in Iran of gaining remote access to a computer controlling a dam in Rye, New York, for about three weeks beginning in 2013, while six other Iranians attacked U.S. banks and companies including the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and AT&T Inc. Iran rejected the accusations.