• 698 days Will The ECB Continue To Hike Rates?
  • 698 days Forbes: Aramco Remains Largest Company In The Middle East
  • 700 days Caltech Scientists Succesfully Beam Back Solar Power From Space
  • 1,100 days Could Crypto Overtake Traditional Investment?
  • 1,104 days Americans Still Quitting Jobs At Record Pace
  • 1,106 days FinTech Startups Tapping VC Money for ‘Immigrant Banking’
  • 1,109 days Is The Dollar Too Strong?
  • 1,110 days Big Tech Disappoints Investors on Earnings Calls
  • 1,111 days Fear And Celebration On Twitter as Musk Takes The Reins
  • 1,112 days China Is Quietly Trying To Distance Itself From Russia
  • 1,113 days Tech and Internet Giants’ Earnings In Focus After Netflix’s Stinker
  • 1,117 days Crypto Investors Won Big In 2021
  • 1,117 days The ‘Metaverse’ Economy Could be Worth $13 Trillion By 2030
  • 1,118 days Food Prices Are Skyrocketing As Putin’s War Persists
  • 1,120 days Pentagon Resignations Illustrate Our ‘Commercial’ Defense Dilemma
  • 1,120 days US Banks Shrug off Nearly $15 Billion In Russian Write-Offs
  • 1,124 days Cannabis Stocks in Holding Pattern Despite Positive Momentum
  • 1,124 days Is Musk A Bastion Of Free Speech Or Will His Absolutist Stance Backfire?
  • 1,125 days Two ETFs That Could Hedge Against Extreme Market Volatility
  • 1,127 days Are NFTs About To Take Over Gaming?
Travel Might Get Another Supersonic Disruption

Travel Might Get Another Supersonic Disruption

New types of commercial planes…

Facial Recognition Is Watching You

Facial Recognition Is Watching You

The Boston-based Fight for the…

Oilprice.com

Oilprice.com

Writer, OilPrice.com

Information/Articles and Prices on a wide range of commodities: We have assembled a team of experienced writers to provide you with information on Crude Oil,…

Contact Author

  1. Home
  2. Tech
  3. Tech News

Saudi Aramco Hit With New Variant Of Old Cyberattack

riyadh

A variant of the Shamoon malware that hit Saudi Aramco’s servers six years ago is back, Axios reports, citing a release from the cybersecurity unit of Alphabet, Chronicle. According to the Chronicle release, the company had detected a file infected with Shamoon in its database VirusTotal.

The malware, Chronicle said, was uploaded from Italy and is different from the previous two variants. Those moved through networks via pre-programmed credentials while this one stays on the computer it is installed on first. There is no command and control infrastructure that would allow the attackers to communicate with the virus, and what the virus does this time is encrypt all files irreversibly rather than replacing them with politically significant images, Axios reports.

While the cybersecurity experts at Chronicle figure out what the malware is all about this time, they do note it comes on the heels of a report from Italy’s oilfield services major Saipem that it had become the target of a cyberattack, with the most severe blow suffered by its network in the Middle East.

Reuters quoted Saipem’s head of digital and innovation operations, Mauro Piasere, as saying the company’s servers in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait had been affected by malware, with the origin of the attack Chennai, India.

“The servers involved have been shut down for the time being to assess the scale of the attack,” Piasere said.

Chronicle’s experts, for their part, said "While Chronicle cannot directly link the new Shamoon variant to an active attack, the timing of the malware files comes close to news of an attack on an Italian energy corporation with assets in the Middle East."

In January 2017, Saudi Arabia issued a warning to local organizations that the Shamoon virus that had hit state-held oil giant Saudi Aramco in 2012 has resurfaced in a new variant. The Shamoon 2, which completely wiped out computer disks, reportedly targeted 15 government agencies and private organizations, state media reported at the time.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Safehaven.com

Back to homepage

Leave a comment

Leave a comment