• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

U.S. CISA adds Cisco ISE and PaperCut NG/MF flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Critical WordPress Post SMTP plugin flaw exposes 200K+ sites to full takeover

 | 

Scattered Spider targets VMware ESXi in using social engineering

 | 

China-linked group Fire Ant exploits VMware and F5 flaws since early 2025

 | 

Allianz Life data breach exposed the data of most of its 1.4M customers

 | 

SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 55

 | 

Security Affairs newsletter Round 534 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION

 | 

Law enforcement operations seized BlackSuit ransomware gang’s darknet sites

 | 

Arizona woman sentenced for aiding North Korea in U.S. IT job fraud scheme

 | 

Operation CargoTalon targets Russia’s aerospace with EAGLET malware,

 | 

Unpatched flaw in EoL LG LNV5110R cameras lets hackers gain Admin access

 | 

Koske, a new AI-Generated Linux malware appears in the threat landscape

 | 

Mitel patches critical MiVoice MX-ONE Auth bypass flaw

 | 

Coyote malware is first-ever malware abusing Windows UI Automation

 | 

SonicWall fixed critical flaw in SMA 100 devices exploited in Overstep malware attacks

 | 

DSPM & AI Are Booming: $17.87B and $4.8T Markets by 2033

 | 

Stealth backdoor found in WordPress mu-Plugins folder

 | 

U.S. CISA adds CrushFTP, Google Chromium, and SysAid flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

U.S. CISA urges FCEB agencies to fix two Microsoft SharePoint flaws immediately and added them to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Sophos fixed two critical Sophos Firewall vulnerabilities

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • Security
  • An increasing number of targeted attacks against the energy sector

An increasing number of targeted attacks against the energy sector

Pierluigi Paganini January 16, 2014

Symantec published in the report titled “Targeted Attacks Against the Energy Sector” to describe the security landscape for companies of the sector.

Companies and industries belonging in the energy sector are waiting most targeted sectors on a global scale, Symantec has issued a very interesting report titled “Targeted Attacks Against
the Energy Sector” that provide an overview of malicious event that hit the energy world.

The number of cyber attacks is increasing every year, in the first half of 2013, the energy sector was the fifth most targeted sector worldwide, suffering 7.6% of all cyberattacks.

“During the monitoring period from July 2012 to June 2013, we observed an average of 74 targeted attacks per day globally. Of these, nine attacks per day targeted the energy sector. Accounting for 16.3 percent of all attacks, the energy sector was the second most targeted vertical in the last six months of 2012, with only the government/public sector exceeding it with 25.4 percent of all attacks.” revealed Symantec.

Security experts, private companies and government are aware of the cyber threat and fear a major incident could happen in the next months causing serious consequences. In April 2013, the US Department of Homeland Security alerted energy companies on ongoing spear-phishing campaign and of a rising tide of attacks aimed at sabotaging industrial processes.

 

energy sector attacks

energy sector attack process

The common sense of security is changed after the discovery of malware such as Stuxnet and Shamoon, experts in the energy sector have matured the sensitiveness that a cyber weapon could effects more dangerous that a bomb. Governments are spending a lot of effort in the improvement of cyber capabilities, this effort is transforming the cyber space in a warfare domain.

Hackers who target the energy sector operate mainly to steal intellectual properties, but an attack could cause an intentional, or unintentional, incidents that could cause human losses.

Intellectual property theft requires a long-term strategy of the attackers who modify their operational mode over the time to adapt the offensive to countermeasures adopted by the victims. The information stolen could be used to reduce the competitive gap with targeted industries, but it could be used also to perform further disruptive actions.

The scenarios hyphotized by Symantec experts are different, cybercrime, state-sponsored hackers, hacktivists and cyber terrorists merge into a single entity capable of moving hostile attacks with  the catastrophic consequences.
“A competitor may commission actions against energy companies to gain an unfair advantage. There are “hackers for hire” groups such as the Hidden Lynx group, who are more than willing to engage in this type of activity. State-sponsored hackers could target energy firms in an attempt to disable critical infrastructure. Hacktivist groups may also victimize companies to further their own political goals. Symantec researchers know these threats can originate from all over the world and sometimes from within company walls. Insiders who are familiar with the systems can carry out attacks for extortion, bribery or revenge. And disruptions can simply happen by accident such as a misconfiguration or a system glitch. For example, in May 2013, the Austrian power grid nearly had a blackout due to a configuration issue.” states a post by Symantec.
The energy sector is adopting systems even more complex, there are numerous supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) or industrial control systems (ICS) that are exposed online and that needs to be specifically protected. The high penetration level of technology has found critical infrastructure vulnerable to cyber attacks, the majority of smart grid and water facilities all over the world needs a more efficient security.
AttacksAgainst Energy Sector InfoGraphic2014
The technological offer is also complicated by the diffusion of new paradigms like the Internet of Things, which represent a business opportunity for the cybercrime industry.
Another factor that influences the overall security of the energy sector is it opens to open the energy market in which small contributors to the electric power grid (e.g. Private water power plants, wind turbines or solar collectors) become part of the entire infrastructure enlarging surface of attack.
“While these smaller sites make up only a small portion of the grid, the decentralized power input feeds can be a challenge to manage with limited IT resources and need to be carefully monitored to avoid small outages that could create a domino effect throughout the larger grid.” reports Symantec.

Companies in the energy sector will face a growing risk of suffering cyber attacks, new developments, including further extensions of smart grids and smart metering expose the more infrastructure to the Internet.

Be aware, also devices not connected to the Internet are at risk, there has already been a number of successful attacks against isolated systems!

If you want to go deeper … read the report.

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs –  Energy sector, cyber security)


facebook linkedin twitter

cyber weapon Cybercrime Department of Homeland Security Hacking ICS Intellectual property theft Internet of Things SCADA Shamoon smart cities SmartTV stuxnet Symantec

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini July 28, 2025
U.S. CISA adds Cisco ISE and PaperCut NG/MF flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini July 28, 2025
Critical WordPress Post SMTP plugin flaw exposes 200K+ sites to full takeover
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    U.S. CISA adds Cisco ISE and PaperCut NG/MF flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

    Security / July 28, 2025

    Critical WordPress Post SMTP plugin flaw exposes 200K+ sites to full takeover

    Security / July 28, 2025

    Scattered Spider targets VMware ESXi in using social engineering

    Cyber Crime / July 28, 2025

    China-linked group Fire Ant exploits VMware and F5 flaws since early 2025

    Hacking / July 28, 2025

    Allianz Life data breach exposed the data of most of its 1.4M customers

    Data Breach / July 27, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT