Cyberattacks on energy should come as no surprise

Energy Transfer Partners’ notice that its electronic data system was hacked and taken offline for several hours was a remarkable admission in an energy industry that rarely talks of such things. That notice was followed by similar reports on three other pipeline companies.

The attacks, by stillunknown cybercriminals, did not affect pipeline operations.

But they came less than three weeks after federal authorities blamed the Russian government for a two-year surge in cyberattacks against U.S. energy companies that included sending malware-laced emails in an effort to penetrate control systems that run energy facilities.

All this should be worrisome for the U.S. energy industry and the communities that host it. But it should come as no surprise.

Just about a year ago, Collin Eaton detailed both the growing threat of cyberattacks and the vulnerabilities of the energy companies in a two-part series for the Houston Chronicle and several posts on its FuelFix website.

Many companies, he found, relied on outdated software that provides easy access to hackers — does anyone remember DOS? — while adding a host of sensors and other smart devices that can provide new avenues to break into the systems that control operations for refineries, chemical plants, pipelines and drilling rigs.

Eaton, relying on cybersecurity sources, also identified the Russian hacking group Dragonfly as particularly active in probing U.S. energy facilities.

Federal authorities last month named Dragonfly, which they say is backed by the Kremlin, as orchestrating the hacking campaign that began in at least early 2016.

Eaton also revealed that the attacks were not only coming by land, but also by sea.

In the Chronicle series, he cited a Coast Guard memo warning the refineries, chemical plants and storage facilities that line the Gulf Coast that foreign ships could be carrying electronic equipment to probe WiFi signals for weaknesses that would allow hackers to break into the systems of energy facilities.

But for me, the most frightening finding, based on Eaton’s interviews with government and private cybersecurity specialists, was the lack of detection and monitoring by energy companies.

A year ago, cybersecurity experts told Eaton that the energy industry was beginning to take the threat seriously and hardening defenses.

The question is whether it’s enough. Or perhaps more important, whether it’s too late. See Collin Eaton’s ‘Hacked’ series at www.houstonchronicle.com/ hacked/ rob.gavin@chron.com twitter.com/thefuelfixer

About a year ago, Chronicle reporter Collin Eaton detailed energ y companies’ vulnerabilities.