Saudi Arabia warns over cyber attacks

Labour ministry and chemicals firm are hit by virus

KHOBAR // Saudi Arabia warned organisations in the kingdom yesterday to be on the alert for cyber attacks including a version of the destructive Shamoon virus, as a chemicals firm reported a network disruption and the labour ministry said it had been attacked.

An alert from the telecoms authority advised all parties to be vigilant for attacks from the Shamoon 2 variant of the virus which in 2012 crippled of tens thousands of computers at oil giant Saudi Aramco.

State-controlled Al Ekhbariya TV said on Twitter, using the hashtag #Shamoon, that several Saudi organisations had been targeted in recent cyber attacks. The state news agency, meanwhile, said the labour ministry had been hit by an attack, but that it did not affect its data. The Jubail- based Sadara Chemical, a joint venture firm owned by Saudi Aramco and US company Dow Chemical, said it had experienced a network disruption and was working to resolve the issue. The company did not say whether the disruption was the result of a cyber attack but said it had stopped all services related to the network.

Other companies in Jubail, the hub of the Saudi petrochemicals industry, also experienced network disruptions, according to sources. Those companies sought to protect themselves from the virus by shutting down their networks, said the sources, who declined to identify firms.