Rapidly Expanding: Cyber Security for Oil and Gas Facilities

Rapidly Expanding: Cyber Security for Oil and Gas Facilities

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5983279_s featureAccording to Frost and Sullivan analyst estimations the global cyber security market for natural gas and oil infrastructure facilities will be worth 3.75 billion dollars by 2021.

88,000 kilometers of additional natural gas and oil pipelines are planned by 2020, with 70% of them being natural gas pipelines. The need to protect these pipelines against external and internal threats will lead to a growing demand for physical solutions such as perimeter defense and leak detection systems. Demand for digital solutions such as SCADA systems (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition), which monitor the digital management infrastructure of the facilities, is also expected to rise.

According to Frost and Sullivan total income in the market will reach 3.75 billion dollars by 2021, compared to 1.5 billion in 2014. The market for natural gas and oil infrastructure cyber security will be one of the most quickly-expanding areas in the entire cyber security market.

IHLS – Israel Homeland Security

The two most significant events responsible for the rise in demand were the Stuxnet virus, discovered in 2010 after infecting at least 14 Siemens facilities; and the Night Dragon 2011 attacks against oil, natural gas and petrochem companies. In the last case attackers used “social engineering” techniques to help them extract information from top company executives.

According to the analysts infrastructure operators began treating cyber security much more seriously over the last few years. Instead of using different solutions for every area – access control, infiltration detection, video analysis, etc. – facility operators are now migrating towards complete solutions offered by integrators, whose experienced teams inspect the facility, detect vulnerabilities and offer customized solutions. Another trend – global cyber and physical security companies are beginning to cooperate with local players in order to gain a foothold in local markets.