Energy companies are evolving as prime targets for threat actors. The growing value of business data, the importance of fuel infrastructure, and the vulnerability of networked systems are a few primary reasons this industry is exposed to malicious hackers.
Oil and gas companies need to start investing in cyber security at the earliest. Otherwise, some of the nation’s most critical infrastructure would be left wide open to future cyber attacks.
With the rise in geopolitical rivalries and disputes, the Middle East faces nation-state-sponsored cyber attacks on infrastructures such as utilities, oil and gas, and transport hubs. Meanwhile, the advancement to cloud services and digital marketing growth is fuelling a terrifying rise in consumer data theft. Critical infrastructure must segregate and defend networks while governments must bring forward new GDPR-style data security.
In comparison to the IT sector, cybersecurity for operational technology (OT) and industrial control systems (ICS) is considerably weak. The significant reason for this is that the OT systems were not designed for a digitalized world where systems are connected via internet.
Yet the advancement towards Industrial IoT (IIoT) demands secure OT systems and protection for manufacturing processes