Key German fuel distributor, Mabanaft GmbH & Co. KG, recently revealed their IT systems were recently breached and had its operations disrupted, resulting in disruption of payments at hundreds of filling stations across Europe.
Parent company Oiltanking GmbH Group, which operates terminals internationally, also confirmed along with Mabanaft its systems were affected.
“While there isn’t much information available on the motivation, impact, and attack vector so far, it is interesting to see that even some not so publicly known organisations such as petrol distributors are getting attention from cyber-attackers nowadays,” states Stanislav Sivak, Associate Managing Software Security Consultant, Synopsys Software Integrity Group.
“Then again, this is the case for all critical infrastructure elements – you don’t notice they exist, until they don’t
“This is a perfect example of how software risk equates to business risk. Fortunately, in this instance, either due to other compensating controls or the breadth of the attack, the impact is limited to a partial Denial-of-Service and it seems that no data breach has occurred. Some informational sources on the Internet indicate that a ransomware attack could be the root incident.”
Gary Gardiner, Head of Security, APAC & Japan, Check Point Software Technologies, said: “Cybercriminals like to hit us where it hurts. The recent cyber-attack on Oiltanking Deutschland underscores a clear trend of ransomware gangs targeting our critical infrastructure.
“In 2021, the global utilities sector saw a staggering 274% increase in the number of average weekly attacks compared to 2020, according to Check Point Research’s (CPR) latest Security Report.
“The choice to target Oiltanking Deutschland was highly strategic by cyber criminals. They’re looking for a snowball effect.
“In other words, the hackers here are thinking about the second and third order effects to optimize for profits. They know that any disruption to Oiltanking Deutschland has the potential to become a national and European issue. Gas prices can quickly get out of control. People’s day-to-day lives can be affected.
“All of this can compound to place unprecedented pressure on the ransomware victims to cave in and meet the demands of the cybercriminal behind the Oiltanking Deutschland.”
Photo credit: Oiltanking GmbH Group
Published: 4 February, 2022
IBIA and others had already dispelled myths about VLSFO many times, but the same negative misconceptions keep coming up as false information, it said.
The company sold a total of 2.8 million mt of marine fuel during the year, it said in an operations update.
According to the notice, the first meeting of creditors will be held on Tuesday, 12 January 2021 at 10am (SG time) via video conferencing pursuant to Covid-19 measures.
‘Pick up in the oil and gas industry continued to contribute positively in demand for the bunkering business.’
Parties will cooperate in training, support and recognition, and sharing of best practices to support carbon accounting capabilities of local maritime firms.
With onsite-produced hydrogen, it will inject the methanol into combustion chambers replacing up to 10-15% of the heavy fuel oil needed for the same voyage today.
Cash of SGD 4.43 million and USD 243,100, and one piece of 100-gram gold-coloured bar recovered in safe belonging to Abdul Latif Bin Ibrahim kept at Extra Space warehouse storage facility, show court documents.
Program introduces periodic assessments, mass flow metering data analysis, and regular training for relevant key personnel to better handle the MFMS to ensure a high level of continuous operational competency.
U.S. Claims Register Summary recorded a total USD 833 million claim from a total 180 creditors against O.W. Bunker USA, according to the creditor list seen by Singapore bunkering publication Manifold Times.
Glencore purchased fuel through Straits Pinnacle which contracted supply from Unicious Energy. Contaminated HSFO was loaded at Khor Fakkan port and shipped to a FSU in Tanjong Pelepas, Malaysia to be further blended.
Individuals were employees of surveying companies engaged by Shell to inspect the volume of oil loaded onto the vessels which Shell supplied oil to; they allegedly accepted bribes totalling at least USD 213,000.
MPA preliminary investigations revealed that the affected marine fuel was supplied by Glencore Singapore Pte Ltd who later sold part of the same cargo to PetroChina International (Singapore) Pte Ltd.
