Oil firm Saipem’s servers in the Middle East hit by a massive cyberattack

• Saipem detected a cyberattack that affected its servers in the Middle East, including the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.
• Saipem’s servers in its main operating centers in Italy, France, and Britain were not affected.

The Italian oil-services company Saipem acknowledge that it suffered a cyberattack that targeted its servers in the Middle East including United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. The attackers aimed to obtain administrative data.

The only European breach of Saipem’s branch occurred in Aberdeen, Scotland, where the company employs fewer than 30 people. However, its servers in its main operating centers in Italy, France, and Britain were not affected.

More details on the attack

• The attack originated in Chennai, India, Mauro Piasere, the head of digital and innovation at Saipem told Reuters.
• The identity of the attacker(s) still remains a mystery.
• Piasere confirmed that there has been no data loss.

“The servers involved have been shut down for the time being to assess the scale of the attack,” Piasere said, adding that the firm’s data backup systems would be activated once the threat was eliminated.

“We are collecting all the elements useful for assessing the impact on our infrastructures and the actions to be taken to restore normal activities. We are also in the process of notifying the report of the incident to the competent authorities,” Saipem said in a statement.