Following the attack on Colonial Pipeline, the whole oil and gas industry came under increased attack throughout the last quarter, according to Obrela Security Industries’ Q2 Digital Universe Study
The report has further revealed that following the incident, the USA government stepped up its focus on cyber security, introducing new laws around the security of critical national infrastructure.
According to the report, oil and gas was one of the only industries to consistently see an increase in attacks on its systems, while many other industries actually saw a reduction. The report has further stated that the industry saw a 18% increase in attacks on its users and endpoints; a 22% increase in attacks on its cloud environments; a 12% increase in attacks on its IT infrastructure; a 29% increase in attacks on its system/perimeters; a 14% increase in web attacks and a 22% increase in APT / malware attacks.
“Even despite President Biden’s warnings in June that critical national infrastructure should be off-limits, our data reveals that the oil and gas sector is a prime target for cybercriminals today, which has most likely been prompted by the attack on Colonial Pipeline. When Colonial Pipeline publicly admitted to paying the ransom, attackers gained intelligence around how a successful attack on the sector is almost guaranteed to amount in a pay-out. The sector is at a greater risk than ever before and addressing security risks and hardening systems must be the number one priority,” said George Papamargaritis, MSS Director at Obrela.
