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Cyber Attacks on Oil Supply Could Cause World Chaos

December 20, 2011

According to an article in Reuters, cyber hackers are threatening potential global chaos by oil disruption through calculated attacks on the world's computer-controlled energy sector. And, oil company executives have warned that attacks are becoming more frequent and more carefully planned.

"If anybody gets into the area where you can control opening and closing of valves, or release valves, you can imagine what happens," said Ludolf Luehmann, an IT manager at Shell Europe's biggest company.

"It will cost lives and it will cost production, it will cost money, cause fires and cause loss of containment, environmental damage – huge, huge damage," he told the World Petroleum Congress in Doha.

According to the article, computers control nearly all the world's energy production and distribution and are increasingly vulnerable to cyber attacks.

"We see an increasing number of attacks on our IT systems and information and there are various motivations behind it – criminal and commercial," said Luehmann. "We see an increasing number of attacks with clear commercial interests, focusing on research and development, to gain the competitive advantage," Luehmann continued.

The Stuxnet computer worm discovered in 2010 was the first visible attack to have a significant impact on process control. And, according to Luehmann, there has been a surge in multi-pronged attacks to break into specific operation systems within producers since.

"Cyber crime is a huge issue. It's not restricted to one company or another; it's really broad and it is ongoing," said Dennis Painchaud, director of International Government Relations at Canada's Nexen Inc. "It is a very significant risk to our business."

"It's something that we have to stay on top of every day. It is a risk that is only going to grow and is probably one of the preeminent risks that we face today and will continue to face for some time."
According to the article, other businesses can shut down their information technology (IT) systems to regularly install rapidly breached software security patches and update vulnerable operating systems, but energy companies cannot continue to take down plants to fix security issues.

"Oil needs to keep on flowing," said Riemer Brouwer, head of IT security at Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations.

"We have a very strategic position in the global oil and gas market," he added. "If they could bring down one of the big players in the oil and gas market you can imagine what this will do for the oil price – it would blow the market."

The article noted that experts have said that the threat of a coordinated attack on energy installations across the world is very real.

"Everyone can hack today," Luehmann said. "The number of potential hackers is not a few very skilled people – it's everyone."

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