How Cyber Hackers Attacked Oil Facilities in European Ports

Due to a ransomware attack , oil loading, unloading, and transshipment at several ports in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Antwerp, Belgium, have ...

Due to a ransomware attack, oil loading, unloading, and transshipment at several ports in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Antwerp, Belgium, have been halted since January 29. At least seven oil tankers were forced to wait outside Antwerp Port as of February 4, unable to dock.

The barge that transports oil from these ports to inland cities along the Rhine River was also delayed. Shell has decided to ship oil around these ports instead.

It's unclear who started the wave of cyberattacks, and the companies that were hit are hiring cyber security experts to look into it. Last year, several oil companies in the United States experienced similar incidents.

Looking back, on May 7, 2021, the Colonel pipeline transportation company, the largest fuel pipeline operator in the United States, was attacked by hackers, forcing the entire pipeline system to be shut down. Fuel shortages and panic purchases occurred in many areas of the United States as a result of the pipeline closure, increasing fuel prices.

The United States declared a state of national emergency on May 9, 2021, because the largest local fuel pipeline operator was offline due to a cyber attack. On May 10, Joe Biden called the attack on the oil pipeline a "criminal act." Corona pipeline transportation company announced on the afternoon of May 13 that it had restarted the company's entire fuel transportation system and had fully resumed operation.

Amid rising international oil prices, hackers targeted major oil ports. International oil prices have risen for seven weeks in a row, reaching a new high in more than seven years, according to data.

With the ongoing advancement of information technology, there has been a surge in the creation of network environments and the dissemination of data information all over the world in recent years.

Cloud computing, virtual machine backup & recovery, and disaster recovery have all become hot topics as computer storage information has grown. The most valuable asset of a business is information, which is stored in the computer as data. It is necessary to protect computer-based information to ensure the continued operation and success of enterprise businesses. Almost every network in some countries will be equipped with special external storage devices, and these devices have indeed played a role in turning the world around in many catastrophic data loss accidents.