Critical Infrastructure Security, Threat Management

Cyberattack sidelines Middle East servers of Italian energy contractor Saipem

Italian oil and gas industry contractor Saipem S.p.A. has reportedly confirmed that a Monday cyberattack impacted its servers and infrastructure in the Middle East as well as in Scotland.

The specific nature of the attack has not yet been shared, but Saipem’s head of digital and innovation Mauro Piasere said that it originated from Chennai, India, according to Reuters. Roughly 400 servers were affected, a Bloomberg report added, with operations impacted in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, as well as in Aberdeen, Scotland.

Saipem's main operating centers in Italy, France and Britain remained unscathed, and the company claims it did not lose any data, due to its comprehensive use of back-up systems. However, the company was forced to shut down its affected servers while investigating the incident.

"We are collecting all the elements useful for assessing the impact on our infrastructures and the actions to be taken to restore normal activities," says a Dec. 10 press release posted on Saipem's website. "We are also in the process of notifying the report of the incident to the competent authorities."

Specializing in drilling services and the installation of energy pipelines, Saipem is a subsidiary of Italian energy giant Eni.

Bradley Barth

As director of community content at CyberRisk Alliance, Bradley Barth develops content for SC Media online conferences and events, as well as video/multimedia projects. For nearly six years, he wrote and reported for SC Media as deputy editor and, before that, senior reporter. He was previously a program executive with the tech-focused PR firm Voxus. Past journalistic experience includes stints as business editor at Executive Technology, a staff writer at New York Sportscene and a freelance journalist covering travel and entertainment. In his spare time, Bradley also writes screenplays.

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