systems offline
Hackers attack Rosneft Germany
03/13/2022 9:29 p.m
A cyber attack hits the German subsidiary of the Russian energy company Rosneft. The attack is apparently connected to the Ukraine war. Behind it is said to be the hacker group Anonymous, which recently also targeted Russian media.
The German subsidiary of the Russian energy company Rosneft has become the target of a hacker attack. According to media reports, the hacker group Anonymous, which sided with Ukraine because of the Russian invasion, was behind the attack. The collective is said to have captured 20 terabytes of data. On the night of Saturday, the company reported an IT security incident, the “Welt” quoted the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). The BSI offered support with the analysis and rectification and both sides are in constant exchange.
The authority has also issued a cyber security warning to other stakeholders in the petroleum industry. So far, however, there have been no effects on the supply situation. According to “Spiegel”, the Berlin public prosecutor’s office has already initiated proceedings and commissioned the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) to carry out further investigations.
Since Rosneft, as an important energy supplier, is one of the facilities of the so-called “critical infrastructure”, it is legally obliged to report such a case to the BSI. For safety reasons, Rosneft is said to have taken its systems offline for the time being – but this should not restrict the operation of the pipelines and refineries. According to media reports, however, various processes are disrupted, including the possibility of concluding contracts.
According to its own statements, Rosneft Germany has been responsible for around a quarter of all crude oil imports to Germany in recent years – and has shares in three refineries in Germany. The managing director of the Russian parent company is Igor Sechin, former deputy head of the administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The chairman of the supervisory board is former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder.
The hacker group Anonymous had already carried out cyber attacks on Russian media portals at the end of February. For several minutes, the websites of the state news agencies Tass and Ria Novosti, the newspaper Kommersant, the pro-Kremlin daily Izvestia and the magazine Forbes Russia posted a message announcing an end to the Russian invasion of Russia Ukraine was requested.