The growing value of business data, the vulnerability of networked systems, and the importance of fuel infrastructure have made oil and gas companies major targets for malicious hackers. Already, the industry has been the victim of several high-profile attacks. The Colonial Pipeline hack compromised the business’s networks, shut down its operations, and deprived the East Coast of a pipeline that supplies nearly half the region’s fuel.

Oil and gas companies need to invest in cybersecurity and quickly. Otherwise, some of the nation’s most important infrastructure could be left wide open to future attacks.

Cyber Threats Facing the Oil and Gas Industry

Significant changes to oil and gas systems have made companies much more vulnerable to cyberattacks over the past few years. Ongoing digitization in the industry and a transition away from centralized systems to distributed management strategies have made managing cyber risks essential for oil and gas.

Many businesses rely on weak cybersecurity strategies such as air-gapped systems, which are computers that are not connected to the Internet. In some cases, systems that were erroneously assumed to be air-gapped became easy targets for attacks.

While these strategies have never provided a strong defense against attacks, they may make companies especially vulnerable as time goes on. Legacy systems that were never intended to be easily accessible are now connected to the internet for visibility and maintenance purposes, closing the IT-OT gap for the industry.

Internet-connected systems and smart devices, which are increasingly common in heavy industry, help oil and gas companies to gather real-time data on field operations, improve maintenance, and increase vehicle fleet visibility. They also further increase the attack surface of company networks.

These systems may also store an immense amount of information about oil and gas apparatuses. A predictive maintenance tool that uses data from IoT sensors (Read more...)