Let us see a few examples of Cyberattacks on the Oil and Gas Industries below:

1. Cyberattacks increased from late October 2021 till April 2022 in the Indian Petroleum Refinery sector. According to CyberPeace Foundation (CPF) research, 3.6 lakh attacks were captured by the Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) threat intelligence sensors.

2. In November 2022, a website URL was shared via WhatsApp claiming that the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) provided special fuel subsidies to its consumers in connection with its 65th anniversary. The WhatsApp messages mentioned an offer from Indian Oil to lure users with a promise of receiving fuel subsidies.

3. In April 2022, Oil India Limited’s field HQ in Assam got hit by a Cyberattack. Cybercriminals injected malware into their systems demanding over 57 Crore as a ransom. These cyber-attackers are tricking users into sharing confidential information like banking details and passwords. Cybercriminals are using social media to push phishing links to oil and gas companies.

Cyber security firms observed that this damage could cripple daily operations, and result in heavy financial losses. Also, could result in downtime, ransom payments, recovery costs, and other unforeseen expenses.

Warning Signs of Cyberattacks Disguised as Campaigns

1. Campaigns are sent to users as offers to buy stocks of companies hosted on third-party domains instead of the official website.
2. The domain names associated with such camouflaged campaigns are registered recently, which means that this is the work of cybercriminals.
3. There are multiple redirections between links.
4. Reputed organizations call out to the public with advertising campaigns on their official websites and not over messengers like Facebook and WhatsApp.
5. The amount of prize is attractive to lure people into taking uninformed action.
6. Broken language is used during such bogus emails/messages with several grammatical errors.

Preventive Cyber Security Actions against Cyberattacks

It is a must to take Cyber Security measures to shield your business from cyberattacks. Recommended Cyber Security measures for businesses are below:

1. Critical services are to be shielded from the Internet using latest cyber protection techniques.
2. Perimeter or Cloud Firewalls must be up to date with the latest unified threat prevention systems & updated with latest security patches.
3. Password policy should be strong and invincible for all accounts and devices. Wherever possible we must use multi-factor authentication for login
4. End points are getting very critical and hence a good Endpoint Protection System is must.
5. Latest techniques like Single Sign on, Identity Access Management, Document Security, Breach Attack Simulation should be in the immediate road map to improve the security posture.
6. A centralised integrated SIEM/SOAR platform would add great value to over all security threat and response.
7. Latest backup to be maintained of critical systems. DR systems to be in place.
8. Conducting Periodical Internal IT Security audits of critical data is a must. This includes all networks, endpoints, and devices to identify and mitigate security vulnerabilities.
9. Employees and management need to be alerted to spot such malicious phishing links in their emails and other internal communication platforms. Hence security awareness training for all users is very critical.

About SNS

Secure Network Solutions (SNS) provides a quantifiable, risk-based approach to building a global structure of cyber security infrastructure based on internationally recognized frameworks and practices. We have been providing services and catering to clients across industries for the last 22 years. Write to us at [email protected] or visit us at www.snsin.com.