Cybersecurity risks to offshore oil and natural gas facilities such as those from state actors and cyber criminals are on the rise.

Macondo

In a new report, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) said the federal government has identified the oil and gas sector as a target of malicious state actors. Exploration and production (E&P) operations today require reliance on remotely connected operational technology, and this is vulnerable to cyberattack.

Potential impacts could “resemble those that occurred in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. Disruptions to oil and gas production or transmission could also affect energy supplies and markets,” GAO researchers said.

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