Vulnerability of Oil and Gas Infrastructure Drives Security Investments

Gas and oil markets are one of the most profitable markets in the world. The projection in future for these markets looks very bright and chances of intense competitions loom. According to the statistics, a rise of over 13 billion is predicted by the year 2021 in comparison to the year 2012.

But the sector is facing serious security issues physically and online. There were a number of instances where hackers attacked online gas and oil industries. Due to this, there have been heavy investments upon the security of online systems. A security analyst on this said:

“”Global oil and gas companies are investing capital in new infrastructure projects, driving the need for security solutions at these facilities,”.

“With increasing awareness of threats, companies are adopting a security-risk management approach and implementing risk assessment of their facilities to ensure security Return on Investment”

There have been a number of systems introduced to combat cyber attacks, the systems include access control, video surveillance and intrusion-detection. You might be wondering why there has been such a wide range of system introduced. Why not go a simplistic one? So, the answer for it is that hacking these days have become such sophisticated that hackers somehow find a way to break into the system. The security expert on this said:

“The threats may vary from information theft to a terrorist attack, but the economic impact and financial damage in case of an attack will be much more significant,”

“It would also depend on the motive of the attacker. For example, a cyber attack to remotely control a SCADA system can have more serious consequences than a cyber attack to steal information”

But, taking into consideration the current status of cyber security it doesn’t looks easy for the oil and gas industries as there has been a lack of investment in this way, especially by the governments. The security managements haven’t been up to the mark, they have been really slow in comparison to the hacker’s moves. To, this the expert advised the oil and gas suppliers:

“Suppliers of security systems should aim at designing an integrated security solution that proactively identifies, assesses and mitigates risks and threats originating from within the facility as well as from well beyond it,”

“On their part, oil and gas companies and operators of critical oil and gas facilities need to do a threat and risk assessment of their facility to ensure there is no over spending or under spending on security-related matters.”