By January 14, 2016 Read More →

Cyber attackers successfully targeting oil and gas industry – study

According to Homeland Security, energy sector faces more cyber attacks than any other industry

cyber attack

With 82 per cent of oil and gas companies facing more cyber attacks during the past year, a new study concludes that the energy industry is the most frequent victim of successful computer hacking.

Tripwire, Inc., a global provider of advanced threat, security and compliance solutions, conducted the study in Nov. and respondents included over 150 IT professionals in the energy, utilities, and oil and gas industries.

Key findings of the study include:

  • Eighty-two per cent of oil and gas industry respondents said their organizations have seen an increase in successful cyberattacks over the past 12 months.
  • Fifty-three per cent of oil and gas industry respondents said the rate of cyberattacks has increased between 50 and 100 per cent over the past month.
  • Sixty-nine per cent of oil and gas industry respondents said they were “not confident” their organizations were able to detect all cyberattacks.

“The increase in successful attacks should be deeply concerning,” said Tim Erlin, director of IT security and risk strategy for Tripwire.

cyber attackAccording to the Department of Homeland Security, the energy sector faces more cyber attacks than any other industry.

The energy sector has been targeted by robust state-sponsored cyber-espionage campaigns, such as Trojan. Laziok and Energetic Bear, and these assaults could potentially damage physical infrastructure.

“Successful attacks could mean that attackers are able to breach a specific security control or that they have been able to get closer to sensitive data using phishing or malware scams that have been detected. It could also mean that attackers are launching more persistent, targeted attacks,” said Erlin.

While a lot of attention has been given to the cyber threats impacting the electric grid, the oil and gas industry has not received the same level of scrutiny.

“In combination with the lack of confidence in detection capabilities these findings demonstrate that the oil and gas industry needs to increase investment in basic best practices to materially reduce risk,” said Erlin.

“Unfortunately, these results indicate that things will probably get worse before they get better.”

Posted in: News

Comments are closed.