Computer Virus Targets Saudi Arabian Oil Company

Event Year: 2012 Reliability: Confirmed
Country: Saudi Arabia
Industry Type: Petroleum
Description:

Saudi Arabia’s national oil company, Aramco, said that a cyber attack damaged approximately, 30,000 computers.  The attack was aimed at stopping oil and gas production in Saudi Arabia.  The company shut down its main internal network for more than a week.  The computer virus, Shamoon, spread through Amarco’s network and wiped computers’ hard drives clean.  Fortunately, damage was limited to office computers and did not affect systems software that would impact technical operations.

Hackers from a group called “Cutting Sword of Justice” claimed responsibility for the attack.  Their motives were political.  The virus gave them access to documents on Aramco’s computers.  They threatened to release documents, but did not.

Impact:

Approximately, 30,000 computers were affected by the Shamoon virus attack.  The virus spread through Aramco’s network and wiped computers’ hard drives clean.  Fortunately, damage was limited to office computers and no technical operations were impacted.