Cyber Attacks Create More Than Necessary Damage To Energy Companies
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Roshan Amiri
- . September 30, 2022
- . Update: October 1, 2022 10:40 pm
As things are becoming more and more technological driven, cyber attacks are becoming a reality. The energy sector is driven by technology. Almost every energy equipment or infrastructure is literally running on the lifeblood of technology. Human intervention is minimal; let’s just say, enough to monitor.
This is one reason that cyberattacks are becoming a bigger nuisance to deal with by energy majors across the world. A recent cyberattack on an American facility, called the Colonial Pipeline is a rude reminder of this. The facility that is situated in Baltimore, Maryland went under a cyberattack, forcing the shutdown of 5,500 miles of Colonial Pipeline’s sprawling interstate system, which carries gasoline and jet fuel from Texas to New York.
The pipeline, which was built in the 1960s, snakes across a distance of 8,850 kilometers and carries products sufficient to meet the total consumption of Germany, Europe’s largest economy and the world’s fourth-biggest.
The breaches are simply through phishing mails and malware. Top CEOs and management are constantly briefed about not opening or accessing mails that might look suspicious or dubious. While companies are moving away from traditional systems and upgrading their software periodically, cyber theft is now targeting vulnerable staffers too.
Cyber attacks can also lead to stealing of classified data and sensitive information from such energy majors. But the resultant is a much larger economic implications- from cutting out electricity to homes to shifting stocks and their prices.
A ransomware attack, such as the one on the Colonial Pipeline, involves hackers infecting networks with malicious software that encrypts data and leaves machines locked until the victims pay an extortion fee.
On Monday, DarkSide, the group behind the attack, said its aim was to “make money” but not create problems for society. In many cases, the attacks cost the economy much more than the ransom amount demanded.
