Cyber Security in Oil and Gas

 Already broadly attacked, examples below. 

Oil and Gas Companies Must Act Now on Cybersecurity      Via Siemens

August 13, 2021, Oil and Gas Companies Must Act Now on Cybersecurity

The World Economic Forum’s Cyber Resilience in the Oil and Gas Industry: Playbook for Boards and Corporate Officers Provides a New Blueprint to Secure Critical Infrastructure, the most personally disruptive incident in recent memory came in May 2021 with the ransomware attack that shut down a major U.S. oil and gas pipeline responsible for supplying nearly half of the East Coast’s petroleum. But for global energy industry leaders – and the oil, gas and utility sectors in particular – this is another incident in a series of cyber attacks on critical infrastructure in the increasingly harried digitally connected energy ecosystem that requires an urgent solution.

The energy sector is no stranger to cyber attacks. For many American families and businss Navigating big challenges, from the NotPetya cyber attack on a Ukrainian utility in 2017 that shut down much of the country’s power grid, to the attack on the Colonial Pipeline in 2021, is a responsibility that now falls on the energy sector’s top executives and board members. These leaders need to mitigate cyber risk in a sector undergoing a digital revolution and is now frequently targeted for geopolitical purposes and financial gain by cyber criminals. While governments around the world develop new policies, norms and consequences for future cyber attacks, oil and gas executives and board members cannot wait on government to come to a geopolitical détente, issue new regulations or aid in efforts to secure critical energy systems.

Instead, CEOs and board members must draw from their decades of expertise in integrating energy assets with operational technology (OT) and leveraging information technology (IT) networks to reduce cyber risk across their hyperconnected operating environments. For decades, oil and gas companies have pursued productivity gains by linking physical energy assets with OT control systems and IT networks. That trend continues today with energy organizations seeking big data, artificial intelligence (AI), and automation solutions to reduce costs, improve efficiency and help reduce emissions. Throughout this process, industry executives have also pioneered key management principles and risk-based approaches to securing the technologies and processes that serve as the foundation for their hyperconnected industrial Internet of Things (IoT) business model.  ... '