Cybersecurity firms are stepping up to shield natural gas and oil companies from the increasing risk of cyberattacks from dark web users and nation-state attackers. 

UK-based Searchlight Cyber released a report for which researchers followed cybercriminals targeting the energy industry activity on the dark web for one year. 

The dark web cyber intelligence company’s report laid out how cybercriminals sell access to energy companies routinely in auctions of company data via dark web platforms such as Exploit, RaidForums and BreachForums – the latter two of which have now been shut down. 

Auction posts contained lists of companies along with their revenue, and included companies from upstream, midstream and downstream oil and natural gas companies. 

According to...