Energy industry is on alert against increasing cyberattacks

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/11/21/3770148/energy-industry-is-on-alert-against.html

BY SEAN COCKERHAM
MCCLATCHY WASHINGTON BUREAU
11.21.13

WASHINGTON -- Last year the hacker group Anonymous broke into computer 
systems of oil companies including Shell, Exxon Mobil and BP as a protest 
against Arctic drilling. The next month , a different set of hackers 
infected the computers of Saudi Arabia’s national oil company with a 
damaging virus that knocked 30,000 workstations offline.

Security analysts and U.S. government officials say such strikes are just 
the beginning, and that energy is by far the most attractive industry 
target for cyberattackers.

“The threat is huge,” said Joseph McClelland, who leads a U.S. federal 
office created last year in an attempt to blunt attacks on energy 
infrastructure. “The activity is already high and it’s increasing.”

The energy industry was the target of 53 percent of all cyberattacks 
reported to the Department of Homeland Security between October 2012 and 
May 2013. Manufacturing was the next highest American industry targeted, 
suffering 17 percent of the attacks.

[...]

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