The Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA) and the International Underwriting Association (IUA) have a new cyber resource – one that zeroes in on the oil and gas sector amid evolving exposures.
For the benefit of the Lloyd’s and London insurance market, the inaugural Joint Rig Committee report called Upstream Oil and Gas Cyber Risk – Insurance Technical Review has been published following a workshop of senior oil and gas underwriting leaders, cyber experts, and specialists from various technical disciplines. It identified systemic vulnerabilities in the design of oil and gas platforms and recommends a change in approach.
The report found that existing upstream facility design parameters may be invalid or insufficient against cyber threats, and that segregation or zoning is an important factor in risk mitigation.
“The threat landscape in the virtual world is continuously changing,” said Francis Lobo, head of oil and gas engineering at Canopius and author of the report. “Oil and gas companies are lucrative targets for cyberattackers motivated by industrial espionage, theft of intellectual property, or engaging in indiscriminate criminal activity involving blackmail and ransom demands.
“These companies need to raise awareness of the risks across the board, with senior management encouraging active participation of all staff to eliminate the risk as much as practicable.”
LMA senior technical executive James Straker-Nesbit added that the cyber report, which details the frequency and severity of previous attacks, aims to provide an up-to-date analysis through an accessible resource.
