04 May 2020 Hackers Target Oil Producers as They Struggle With a Record Glut of Crude As the world’s top oil producers prepared for a weeklong meeting in April to plan a response to slumping prices of crude, espionage hackers commenced a sophisticated spearphishing campaign that was concentrated on US-based energy companies.
04 May 2020 High-Seas Energy Fight Off Malaysia Draws US, Chinese Warships Malaysia’s push to explore energy blocks off its coast has turned into a five-nation face off involving US and Chinese warships, raising the risk of a direct confrontation as broader tensions grow between the world’s biggest economies.
17 March 2020 Working From Home: Cybersecurity Tips for Remote Workers Switching to remote working because of the coronavirus can create cybersecurity problems for employers and employees. Here are some things to watch.
03 March 2020 First-Ever Climate Report by a Nonpartisan, Security Body Relates Climate Change to Global Instability A recent report details national and global security threats related to climate change in the hopes that decision-makers and leaders will recognize the relationship between global warming and security.
19 February 2020 Ransomware Shuts Gas Compressor for 2 Days in Latest Attack A recent ransomware attack caused a US natural gas compressor facility to shut for 2 days, the latest in a string of attacks targeting the country’s energy infrastructure over the past few years.
10 February 2020 Saudi Aramco Sees Increase in Attempted Cyberattacks Saudi Aramco has seen an increase in attempted cyberattacks since the final quarter of 2019, which the company has so far successfully countered, the state oil giant’s chief information security officer said.
07 February 2020 Venezuela Rounds Up US Oil Executives as Guaidó Visits DC Six American oil executives under house arrest in Venezuela were rounded up by police hours after President Donald Trump met Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's chief opponent at the White House, according to family members of the men.
13 January 2020 Saudi Arabia Pledges To Help Stabilize Market in Wake of US/Iran Tension Saudi Arabia’s oil minister said OPEC must continue to work toward market stability to allow needed oil and gas investment to go forward.
10 January 2020 New Iranian Data-Wiper Malware Hits Bahrain's National Oil Company Iranian state-sponsored hackers reportedly have deployed a new strain of data-wiping malware on the network of Bapco, Bahrain's national oil company.
08 January 2020 Chevron Pulls Oil Workers From Iraq Chevron has evacuated all of its American oil workers from Iraq following the recent US airstrike in Baghdad.
08 January 2020 Maritime Piracy Increases Business Costs in the Gulf of Guinea The nonprofit group Oceans Beyond Piracy says the cost of maritime piracy in West Africa was more than $800 million in 2017.
09 December 2019 Expanding Disclosure Policy To Drive Better Cybersecurity Companies should disclose instances of cyber-enabled intellectual property theft. Disclosure requirements would give companies greater incentives to protect their intellectual property and allow investors to make better-informed decisions.
05 December 2019 Pirates Board Supertanker off Nigeria, Kidnap 19 Crew Members Pirates boarded a fully loaded supertanker off the coast of Nigeria, an act that is sure to ring alarm bells for insurers about the risk of collecting oil from Africa’s biggest producer.
20 November 2019 Phineas Fisher Offers $100,000 Bounty To Hack Banks and Oil Companies The vigilante hacker has offered the reward for hacktivists and criminals who break into capitalist institutions.
14 November 2019 Pemex Suffers Cyberattack, Hackers Demand Ransom of Nearly $5 Million The ransomware attack that began over the weekend is reportedly still affecting the national oil company’s payment systems, which may have wider impacts on its supply chain. For now, the company says its upstream and downstream operations are running normally.
11 November 2019 Houston FBI Leads New Efforts To Protect Energy Companies From Cyberattacks The Houston FBI held a classified meeting to help energy companies protect themselves from the growing threat of cyberattacks.
09 October 2019 Oil and Gas Transactions Require Special Cybersecurity Considerations One of the foremost threats companies face today is that posed by cybercriminals, and the unique vulnerabilities of companies in the oil and gas sector create heightened cybersecurity risks for those pursuing transactions in the sector.
24 September 2019 The Saudi Oil Attacks Could Be a Precursor to Widespread Cyberwarfare—With Collateral Damage for Companies in the Region The kingdom and the oil and gas industry have been slow to shore up defenses, raising red flags about the possibility of longer-term fallout in the region, experts said, including those who have responded to incidents in the region.
20 September 2019 As Oil and Gas Data Multiply, so Do the Cybersecurity Threats Saudi Aramco, BP, and Schlumberger pride themselves on staying at the forefront of digital technology development and deployment. But an equally daunting challenge for the industry heavyweights is keeping their ever-expanding digital systems secure.
17 September 2019 Report Traces Energy Spheres of Influence For several decades, energy security has been defined and pursued in a multilateral world with relatively open markets and technology transfer, where energy relations have become increasingly commodified. But that world may soon disappear.
16 September 2019 How an Aerial Barrage Cut Saudi Oil Production in Half Tensions in the region spike as US blames Iran.
06 August 2019 Theft Ring Targeted Texas Deepwater Oil-Drilling Tech A ring of at least five people targeted syntactic foam, a key material for deepwater oil drillers that also has military and commercial uses.
01 August 2019 The Cloud Offers Opportunity for Oil and Gas Cybersecurity The author argues that the advent of cloud technology should not be regarded as a further challenge to security but an opportunity to revitalize and improve a company’s defenses dramatically.
01 August 2019 New Cybersecurity Threat Emerges Cybersecurity firm Dragos has identified a new threat to the oil and gas industry, HEXANE. The company has also released a report assessing the cybersecurity environment in oil and gas.
23 July 2019 Commentary: Oil Markets, Oil Attacks, and the Strategic Straits A recent episode involving three, allegedly Iranian, vessels and a British-flagged tanker near the Strait of Hormuz is just one of the recent events of this nature. This analysis looks at these events, the threat they pose, and how the strategy to protect oil flow from the Persian Gulf is evolving.
25 June 2019 Hackers Behind Dangerous Oil and Gas Intrusions Are Probing US Power Grids In a new troubling escalation, hackers behind at least two potentially fatal intrusions on industrial facilities have expanded their activities to probing dozens of power grids in the US and elsewhere, researchers with security firm Dragos reported.
10 June 2019 Nigeria’s Oil Thieves Roar Back as Militants Kept in Check Just as Nigeria gets to grips with militants who brought the nation’s oil industry to its knees a few years ago, another group of longstanding foes are slowly making a comeback: thieves.
10 June 2019 Strengthening the Energy Sector’s Cyber Preparedness The reality is that threats continue to outrun the sector’s security evolution, primarily because organizations are increasingly connecting operational technology, such as supervisory control and data acquisition systems and industrial control systems, to their information technology networks.
28 May 2019 Only Six TSA Staffers Are Overseeing US Oil and Gas Pipeline Security According to a report published by the Government Accountability Office, the Transportation Security Administration employs only six full-time staffers for its pipeline security branch.
14 May 2019 Energy Department Announces $8 Million for Energy System Resilience The partnership opportunity is designed to spur the development of next-generation tools and technologies that will become widely adopted throughout the energy sector to reduce the risk that a cyber incident could disrupt the country’s energy system.
14 May 2019 Saudi Arabia Says Drones Attacked Its Pipelines An oil pipeline that runs across Saudi Arabia was hit by drones on 14 May west of its capital of Riyadh, the Saudi energy minister said, shortly after rebels in Yemen claimed they carried out coordinated drone strikes against the kingdom.
17 April 2019 People, Processes, and Technologies: Companies Circle the Wagons for Cybersecurity Cyberattacks on energy infrastructure have become a headline affair in recent years, and the costs of not addressing the threats they pose can be catastrophic. What are the responses, and how does the convergence of IT and OT help close the security gaps?
19 March 2019 Woodside Turns to Australian Firm for Cybersecurity Woodside has invested in Sapien Cyber, a Western Australian company specializing in the protection and security of critical infrastructure.
04 March 2019 Malware Attack Forces Oil and Gas Cybersecurity and Process Safety To Converge The TRITON/TRISIS/HatMan malware incident proved that the worlds of process safety and industrial control systems should be looked at holistically, not just from the standpoint of potential cyberthreats.
07 February 2019 Cybersecurity Grows Quickly as Major Global Risk Most businesses understand that data is essential to improving operational performance and that data technologies provide opportunities for more-accurate risk assessment and control of safety-critical systems. Nonetheless, statistics show that the threat of cybercrime is growing.
05 February 2019 Anadarko Wants Armored Vehicles for Mozambique Gas Project Anadarko Petroleum wants a fleet of at least six vehicles with armor heavy enough to stop AK-47 bullets at its natural-gas project in Mozambique. And it needs them soon.
05 February 2019 Cornyn Proposes Expanding Cybersecurity Authority to Energy Department for Pipelines, LNG Texas Sen. John Cornyn introduced legislation that would extend authority over the cybersecurity of oil and natural gas pipelines, as well as liquefied natural gas facilities, to the secretary of energy.
22 January 2019 Digital Technology and Security: How Is the Industry Digitizing To Improve HSE? Following up the petroleum industry’s work with digital technology and security is a priority area at the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway. A key target for this supervision in 2019 will be helping the sector to improve safety and the working environment.
20 December 2018 Saudi Aramco, Raytheon Join Forces for Cybersecurity Saudi Aramco and Raytheon signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a joint venture that will develop and provide cybersecurity services in Saudi Arabia and the region.
18 December 2018 Saipem Says Shamoon Variant Crippled Hundreds of Computers A hack on Italian oil services firm Saipem that crippled more than 300 of the company’s computers used a variant of the notorious Shamoon virus, Saipem said, a development that links the case to a massive attack in 2012 on Saudi Aramco.
11 December 2018 Middle East Servers Targeted in Cyberattack Against Saipem The Italian oil-services company is still assessing the scope and impact of a cyberattack that targeted its servers in the Middle East, according to the company’s head of digital and innovation.
28 November 2018 Report Details Industry Efforts To Address Cyberthreats The greater connectivity of the digital age and the Internet of Things has resulted in increased efficiency through big data, analytics, sensors, and the ability to automate highly sensitive tasks. However, it has also opened the doors to cyberattacks.
06 November 2018 Cyberattacks Against Energy and Utilities Industry Increasing Research has found that most cyberattacks against the energy and utilities industry transpire and thrive inside enterprise information-technology networks rather than critical infrastructure.
31 October 2018 Terrorism, Geopolitics, and Oil Security: Using Remote Sensing To Estimate Oil Production of the Islamic State Remotely measuring the activity of extractive industries in conflict-affected areas that do not have reliable administrative data can support a broad range of public policy and decisions and military operations.
05 September 2018 Industrial Group Warns Congress of Gas Pipeline Threat Lobbyists representing US manufacturing and chemical companies are urging Congress to secure natural gas pipelines against physical attacks and cyberattacks.
05 September 2018 Homeland Security Department Holds Cybersecurity Summit, Announces New Cross-Sector Risk-Management Center On 31 July, the US Department of Homeland Security held a National Cybersecurity Summit, featuring the nation's top homeland, national-security, and law-enforcement officials.
08 August 2018 Five Months After Energy Cyberattack, US Pushes Collaboration With hacking attacks mounting against US energy companies, guarding the sector will be a top priority for a new cybersecurity effort, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has said.
08 August 2018 With Cyberattacks Inevitable, Energy Sector Focuses on Response Cyberattacks on US energy systems have become unavoidable, and enough have been successful that the sector and its regulators are increasingly focused on mitigation, response, and recovery.
25 July 2018 Libya Kidnap Shows Oil-Supply Growth at Risk From Insecurity Just as Libya resumes oil exports from recently shuttered ports, an attack on its largest field is setting back progress yet again.
25 July 2018 Senate To Probe Growing Cybersecurity Threats: Is Energy Infrastructure Safe? Today’s world is full of potential threats as news of cyber-related hacks and crimes have become near nonstop occurrences. While most of the news has concentrated on business, banking, and consumer activities, domestic infrastructure may also be a tempting target.
13 June 2018 Pipeline Security and Cybersecurity: Are Guidelines Enough To Protect Critical Infrastructure? Since 9/11, no new rules or regulations have been promulgated to address pipeline or liquified natural gas facility security. Although the Transportation Security Administration recently released an updated version of its "Pipeline Security Guidelines," those guidelines remain advisory.
13 June 2018 US Regulators Urge Better Oversight for Pipeline Cybersecurity The federal agency now charged with overseeing cybersecurity for US pipelines is ill equipped to do the job, say two top regulators who want the role given to the Energy Department.
16 May 2018 Pentagon Warns Against Offshore Drilling in Eastern Gulf of Mexico Offshore oil and natural gas drilling in the eastern part of the Gulf of Mexico would likely be incompatible with military training and testing, the Pentagon is warning lawmakers.
10 May 2018 Invoking The ‘Necessity Defense' In Pipeline Sabotage Prosecutions In 2016 , several coordinated actions led to trespass and vandalism of pipelines and pipeline facilities, some of which were prosecuted as felony criminal acts. The defendants in several of these cases have raised a "necessity defense" to their actions, and two courts have now allowed that defense.
02 May 2018 Energy Companies Aren't Doing Much To Defend Against Soaring Cyberattacks Two prominent security consultant firms estimate that energy companies, ranging from drillers to pipeline operators to utilities, invest less than 0.2 percent of their revenue in cybersecurity.
25 April 2018 More US Pipeline Cyberattacks May Be on Tap A recent cyberattack on a data processing system used by many US pipelines could be a prelude to more severe disruptions, cybersecurity experts said.
16 April 2018 Oil and Gas Cybersecurity Projects Went "to the Bottom of the Pile" in Energy Slump Oil companies fell behind in hardening their computer control systems against cyberattacks after the collapse of crude prices more than 3 years ago, according to cybersecurity experts.
03 April 2018 Four Gas Pipeline Data Systems Shut Down as Cyberattack Hits At least four US pipeline companies have seen their electronic systems for communicating with customers shut down over the last few days, with three confirming it resulted from a cyberattack.
20 March 2018 Technical Alert Targets Russian Cyberthreats on Energy, Marine, and Aviation Sectors On 15 March, the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation released a joint Technical Alert on Russian government cyberactivity targeting organizations in the energy, marine, aviation, and other manufacturing sectors.
05 March 2018 IADC Announces Availability of New Cybersecurity Guidelines The new IADC Guidelines for Baseline Cybersecurity for Drilling Assets provide baseline guidance on cybersecurity for oil and gas drilling assets and draw from the National Institute of Standards Technology Cybersecurity Framework and international standards.
19 February 2018 Honeywell Launches First Industrial Cybersecurity Center of Excellence in the Middle East New state-of-the-art center aims to strengthen regional cybersecurity preparedness for industrial and critical infrastructure.
06 February 2018 Iraq Plans Military Operation To Secure Oil Route to Iran: Security Sources Iraqi forces are preparing an operation to consolidate control of an area near the Iran border to be used for the transit of Iraqi oil, two officials said, highlighting concern about mountainous terrain where two armed groups are active.
18 January 2018 Nigerian Militants Threaten Oil Rig Attacks Within Days Nigerian militants threatened on 17 January to attack offshore oil facilities within days, raising fears of a repeat of a 2016 wave of violence that helped push Africa’s biggest economy into recession.
12 January 2018 Singapore Uncovers Large Oil Heist at Shell's Biggest Refinery Eleven men were charged in a Singapore court on 2 January in connection with a large-scale oil theft at Shell’s biggest refinery, while police said they were investigating six other men arrested in a weekend raid.
12 January 2018 Cybersecurity for Upstream Operations Optimizing the design, function, and benefits of the logical cyber-representation of physical asset environments is an evolving trend for the oil and gas industry to gain operational efficiency.
20 December 2017 Iraq To Use Drones To Protect Oil Pipelines From 2018 Iraq plans to use drones to monitor and protect its oil export and production pipelines from the first quarter of 2018, an oil ministry spokesman said on 18 December.
01 December 2017 Infographic: Cyber Breaches Cause $450 Billion of Damage Per Year In the Internet of Things age, more than 20.4 billion devices will be connected by 2020. The explosion of connectivity unlocks countless opportunities for cybercrime.
01 December 2017 Congress and Department of Justice Consider Existing Protections as Pipeline Sabotage Increases In response to questions from lawmakers on whether federal law adequately provides for the prosecution of "criminal activity against infrastructure," the Department of Justice recently committed to "vigorously" prosecute those who damage "critical energy infrastructure in violation of federal law."
01 December 2017 UK Shipping Firm Clarkson Reports Cyberattack British shipping services provider Clarkson on 29 November said it was the victim of a cybersecurity hack and warned that the person or people behind the attack may release some data shortly.
16 November 2017 Energy Sector Overtaking Finance as Cybercrime Target in Middle East Energy is overtaking banking and finance as a target for cybercriminals in the Middle East, yet companies in the sector are leaving themselves significantly more open to a successful attack, leading international experts have told the Security in Energy conference in Abu Dhabi.
06 November 2017 Niger Delta Leader Calls on Avengers To Hold Off Oil Attacks A key community leader from Nigeria’s tense Delta oil-producing region called on militants on 5 November not to resume their attacks until they had further time to negotiate their demands with the government.
20 October 2017 Protecting the Connected Barrels: Cybersecurity for Upstream Oil and Gas Oil and gas might not seem like an industry that hackers would target. But they do—and the cybersecurity risks rise with every new data-based link between rigs, refineries, and headquarters. In an increasingly connected world, how can upstream oil and gas companies protect themselves?
04 October 2017 Cenovus Partners With Nozomi Networks To Secure Its Oilfield Operations Canadian oil company chooses SCADAguardian for real-time monitoring, security, and analytics.
07 September 2017 Oil Production Restarting at Libya’s Sharara Field After Blockade Lifted Oil production at Libya’s Sharara field, the country’s largest, was resuming on 6 September after a valve was reopened on a pipeline shut by an armed group for more than 2 weeks, Libyan oil industry sources said.
30 August 2017 Nigerian Firm Homeland Takes Delivery of Damen Security Vessel A third Damen security vessel will be deployed to provide security and other support services to the international offshore oil companies active off the coast of Nigeria in the Gulf of Guinea, in cooperation with the Nigerian Navy.
29 August 2017 Libya’s Oil Disruptions Widen as Two More Fields Halt Output Two more oil fields in Libya are being closed after an armed group took over pipelines to both deposits, further disrupting the OPEC nation’s plan to boost crude production.
22 August 2017 Sinopec’s Shengli Oil Field Cuts Internet for Some Offices After Cyberattack Sinopec’s Shengli oil field became the latest victim of the ransomware that hobbled big business across the globe. Internet access was cut off until protective measures can be taken.
22 August 2017 Libya Halts Biggest Oilfield Loadings in Latest Disruption Libya halted loadings from its biggest oil field in the latest disruption to the nation’s crude production and shipments.
10 August 2017 Libya’s Largest Oil Field Back to Normal After Disruption Libya’s biggest oil field, Sharara, is “back to normal” after a disruption caused by protests in the politically fragmented country, the state National Oil Corp. (NOC) said.
24 July 2017 Nigeria Oil Thieves Keep a Lid on Output Even as Bombs Abate Up to 30% of oil passing through Niger Delta pipelines is stolen. Protecting thousands of miles of pipeline is challenging. Cleaning up the resulting pollution will take decades.
19 July 2017 Drones and Facility Security: Things to Look Out For Operators need to take steps to protect their facilities from drone security breaches by outsiders. The costs an attacker incurs in developing tools to break into and control infrastructure is low compared to the costs an operator incurs in defending against those tools.
14 July 2017 US Warns Businesses of Hacking Campaign Against Nuclear, Energy Firms The US government warned industrial firms about a hacking campaign targeting the nuclear and energy sectors, the latest event to highlight the power industry’s vulnerability to cyberattacks.
14 July 2017 Column: The Human Factor—Can Employees Learn Not To Make Mistakes? Technical means are not enough to protect a business from cyberthreats. That is why many companies already invest in employee cybersecurity training. There, however, complications may arise.
01 July 2017 Cybersecurity: Learn What a Wiper is Before It Affects You Many cybersecurity experts think the global malware attack on 27 June may have been an initial test run of a hybrid creation. If the term “wiper” is unfamiliar, you need to read this.
30 June 2017 Protecting the Connected Barrels: Cybersecurity for Upstream Oil and Gas Oil and gas might not seem like an industry that hackers would target. But they do—and the cybersecurity risks rise with every new data-based link between rigs, refineries, and headquarters. In an increasingly connected world, how can upstream oil and gas companies protect themselves?
28 June 2017 Cyberattack Hits Oil Giant and Banks in Russia and Ukraine Russia’s top oil producer Rosneft said a large-scale cyberattack hit its servers on 27 June, and computer systems at some banks and the main airport in neighboring Ukraine were also disrupted.
19 June 2017 Honeywell To Acquire Industrial Cybersecurity Software Leader Nextnine Honeywell announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to purchase Nextnine, a privately held provider of security management technologies for industrial cybersecurity.
19 June 2017 Honeywell Invests in Cybersecurity Innovation Center in Asia Pacific Honeywell Process Solutions, with the support of the Singapore Economic Development Board, will establish a new industrial cybersecurity center of excellence (COE) for Asia Pacific in Singapore.
14 June 2017 Worker’s Death Leads Libya’s Oil Production To Drop by a Quarter Libya’s oil production has plunged by almost a quarter after workers shut the OPEC country’s biggest field to protest lack of medical care following the death of a colleague, a person familiar with the matter said.
25 May 2017 Cyber Raises Threat Against America’s Energy Backbone Five years ago, an attack on nearly two dozen US natural gas utilities set off alarm bells in the US intelligence community. Many gas companies say they have shored up security since then. But the sector’s overall cyber readiness is a black box even to those charged with overseeing it.
15 May 2017 As Prices Rise, Oil Companies Drill Down on Industrial Cybersecurity In recent months, more US oil company boards have demanded information technology managers prove refineries and drilling rigs are protected against cyberattacks, the chief of a security firm says.
27 April 2017 Saudi Arabia Says it Foiled Bombing Attempt on Aramco Fuel Distribution Terminal Saudi forces have foiled an attempt to blow up an Aramco fuel terminal in southern Saudi Arabia using a high-speed boat laden with explosives, the interior ministry said on 26 April. The ministry accused Yemen’s Houthi group of being behind the attempt.
21 March 2017 Atos, Siemens Expand Strategic Relationship To Provide Cybersecurity for US Utilities, Oil and Gas Industry Atos, a global leader in digital services, and Siemens, a global engineering leader, announced that they have entered into a memorandum of understanding and will leverage their portfolios to help customers establish an integrated first line of defense against cyberattacks.
08 March 2017 Libyan Oil Guard Head Says Asked To Protect Oil Ports After Clashes An oil guard official appointed by Libya’s UN-backed government said on 7 March that he had been tasked with protecting oil ports by an armed faction that took over Es Sider and Ras Lanuf terminals.
06 March 2017 Hackers Drawn to Energy Sector’s Lack of Sensors, Controls Oil and gas companies, including some of the most celebrated industry names in the Houston area, are facing increasingly sophisticated hackers seeking to steal trade secrets and disrupt operations, according to a newspaper investigation.
15 February 2017 Libya Crude Output Rises as Work Conditions for Big Oil Improve Libya’s crude production exceeded 700,000 B/D and is expected to keep rising as working conditions in the conflict-ridden country improve for international companies such as Eni and Total, an official from the state oil company said.
10 February 2017 IPIECA Launches Responsible Security Tools IPIECA has developed two responsible security tools, produced in partnership with the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
18 January 2017 Neglect the Basics at Your Peril, Cybersecurity Strategist Says Hackers have gotten smarter and bolder in their recent attempts to steal coveted oil company data. Mario Chiock has worked for years to keep them at bay.
18 January 2017 Maritime Cybersecurity Regulation on the Horizon Over the past year, various institutions and organizations—both domestic and international—have shown an interest in moving the increasingly prevalent cybersecurity conversation offshore.
