Half of Cyberattacks in the Middle East Target Oil & Gas Sector: Siemens

Oil and gas sector networks in the Middle East have been the target of some of the most aggressive and significant cyberattacks known to the industrial sector to date. Now a new report from Siemens shows three-quarters of organizations there have been hit in the past 12 months by at least one attack that either disrupted operations technology (OT) or led to the theft of confidential data.

In the Middle East, 30% of cyberattacks in that region target OT networks, and half of all cyberattacks there are against oil & gas networks, according to the survey of 200 IT security professionals tasked with OT security for their organizations. According to the report, which was co-authored by the Ponemon Institute, 30% of all cyberattacks worldwide are against OT networks.

"We know that attacks are becoming more frequent and increasingly sophisticated, and firms quickly need to assign dedicated ownership of OT cyber, gain visibility into their assets, demand purpose-built solutions and partner with experts who have real domain expertise," said Leo Simonovich, vice president and global head of industrial cybersecurity at Siemens Energy.

According to the report, 60% of these organizations say the risk of attack on OT networks is greater than on IT networks.

Read the full Siemens report here.

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