Oil and gas companies in APAC (Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, and India) and the Middle East (UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait) are advised to be on their guard as the cyber threat levels have risen significantly in the last 10 days. Not only have the number of cyberattacks increased but the quality of the attacks and the malware we are coming across are also significantly on the higher side of evolution. The rising attacks point to a coordinated effort by various hackers to create widespread disruption across supply chains.
These cyberattacks are targeting OT installations, IoT devices, and their associated networks. These include SCADA systems, HMI units, valve and flow control in pipelines and refineries, remote temperate and safety management systems, gas scrubber controls, and various metering systems.
Further, hackers are showing extraordinary interest in field production systems, financial information, exploration and bidding documents, server configuration, and in intercepting internal communication among staff members.
Oil and gas companies, therefore, need to urgently take the following measures to improve their cybersecurity posture.
- Run tabletop exercises to stress test systems, processes, and response mechanisms
- Check for missed patch updates and update all systems immediately
- Conduct regular vulnerability scans
- For critical systems, network activity reports should be analyzed even if no anomalies were reported
- Work with multiple sources of threat intelligence
- Conduct a cybersecurity self-assessment exercise to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement
- Keep the incident response team on standby for the next 14 days in a high state of readiness
- IoT and OT security plans must be revisited to improve them
- Increase awareness on phishing and on reporting rogue insider activity
- Remote access credentials for offshore and other remote facilities should be reset
- Recommend employees to only use unique passwords for all assets
- More attention should be paid to HVAC and health and safety systems as these could be targeted separately by hackers
- Add new KPIs to the overall plant and facility cybersecurity measures
- Communication equipment and pipeline controls are another set of equipment that needs urgent attention
- Follow all regulatory guidelines and those issued by US CISA, NIST, and other agencies promptly
To understand how oil and gas companies are being targeted by global hackers, connect with our cybersecurity experts here: Connect with Sectrio
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