The team at Restrata recently exhibited and spoke on the panel at Future Oil & Gas 2023, Aberdeen’s annual conference and exhibition for the upstream oil & gas industry. This event explored many themes around digitalisation, disruption and innovation in the industry but one of the key topics this year was the convergence of cybersecurity and physical security.
It’s no secret that cybersecurity incidents are on the rise. With the oil and gas sector being a prime target for attacks, industry leaders at Future Oil & Gas 2023 were talking about the importance of taking a holistic view of resilience throughout the organisation.
According to the Ponemon institute‘s recent report, “2022 Cost of a Data Breach Study: Oil and Gas Industry“:
- 63% of oil and gas companies experienced a cybersecurity incident in 2022. This is up from 57% in 2021.
- The average cost of a cybersecurity incident for an oil and gas company was $5.7 million in 2022
- Oil and gas companies that have a strong cyber-physical security programme are 60% less likely to experience a data breach
- Oil and gas companies that have a strong cyber-physical security programme save an average of $3 million per year on security costs.
Understanding the Challenge:
Traditionally, cybersecurity and physical security have been treated as separate disciplines within the oil and gas industry. However, the rapid digitalisation of operations has exposed critical vulnerabilities that can have severe consequences. Threat actors are increasingly targeting the industry’s interconnected systems, aiming to disrupt operations, steal valuable data or cause physical harm. This necessitates an organisation-wide approach that unifies cyber and physical security efforts.
The Importance of Bridging the Gap between Cybersecurity and Physical Security:
- Comprehensive Risk Management: Taking a holistic approach to cyber and physical security enables a comprehensive risk management strategy that empowers better preparedness and response to threats and attacks however they emerge. By aligning defences, companies can identify vulnerabilities across their entire infrastructure, reducing the chances of a successful attack or breach.
- Proactive Threat Detection: Bridging the gap between cyber and physical security allows for proactive threat detection and prevention. By unifying data from various sources, organisations can boost visibility and detect threats at an earlier stage, allowing for faster response and mitigation.
- Improved Incident Response: Whether state-sponsored or not, attacks on oil and gas companies increasingly have both cyber and physical implications. By unifying data from these sources and connecting response teams to a shared operating view, organisations can collaborate more effectively, minimising response time, limiting damages and safeguarding personnel and assets.
- Regulatory Compliance: Another talking point at Future Oil & Gas 2023 was the need to keep up with the regulatory landscape concerning both cybersecurity and physical security. By integrating these two domains, companies can streamline compliance efforts, ensuring adherence to industry standards and government regulations, such as NIST, ISO and IEC.
Our CEO, Botan Osman was part of one of the panels at Future Oil & Gas 2023 that discussed the topic of bridging the gap between cyber security and physical security in depth. Here he highlights the importance of a common operating view across the organisation for managing risks and attacks.
How can resilienceOS help oil & gas companies?
Restrata’s resilienceOS enables organisation-wide resilience for the oil and gas industry, empowering companies to anticipate, mitigate and respond to dynamic risks and attacks faster and better. Here’s how:
- Unified tech stack: At the core of resilienceOS is a powerful data ingestion engine that allows companies to feed the data that matters to them, from multiple sources, into a single operating view. Oil and gas companies can unify data from access control systems, risk intelligence, HR and travel systems, alongside location monitoring of people and assets, all in real-time. This unlocks real-time situational awareness throughout the organisation, enhancing the ability of oil and gas companies to monitor and respond to threats effectively.
- Cross-functional collaboration: One of the key benefits of resilienceOS is the shared operating environment it provides. By unifying data into a single source of truth, cross-functional teams can coordinate better, leading to faster, more effective management of dynamic risks and attacks.
- Connected site capabilities: The oil and gas industry relies heavily on interconnected systems and technology for efficient operations. With resilienceOS, companies within the oil & gas sector can use a digital twin of their sites to geofence key zones and infrastructure. This gives organisations visibility over the assets that are important to them and real-time monitoring of any risks and breaches that could have an impact, along with automated impact calculation and custom action and response playbooks.
- Compliance and Reporting: Keeping up with regulatory requirements is significantly easier with resilienceOS. Oil and gas companies can access a report-ready audit trail of actions taken at every step of an incident. The action and response centre enables organisations to build out custom workflows that adhere to any regulations they need to meet.
Conclusion
There was no disagreement at Future Oil & Gas 2023 that the need to view resilience holistically throughout the organisation was becoming increasingly important. This is especially true for the oil and gas sector and the ever more sophisticated threat landscape necessitates a robust, organisation-wide approach. The ability of resilienceOS to unify data from multiple sources and facilitate cross-functional collaboration means organisations in this industry now have the underlying technology to meet the challenge head on.
If you would like to see resilienceOS in action to understand how it can help you achieve organisation-wide resilience, book a demo here.