Cyber attack cripples Suncor Energy, one of Canada's largest energy companies

Suncor Energy, Canada's leading integrated energy company, disclosed earlier this week that it had suffered a cybersecurity incident. This caused technical problems at its subsidiary, Petro-Canada, affecting the operation of more than 1,500 gas stations across the country. As a result, these stations cannot accept credit card payments and customers cannot use reward points.

The implications of a cyber attack on critical infrastructure

Suncor Energy, ranked the 48th largest public company globally, is one of Canada's leading synthetic oil producers, generating $31 billion in annual revenue. Drew Streib, group director of software engineering at Synopsys Software Integrity Group, pointed out how attacks on critical infrastructure systems can not only directly disrupt a specific business, but can have broad cascading effects on entities across the economy. . Entities such as Suncor and other energy suppliers are particularly attractive to malicious actors who want to create major disturbances.

Mitigation measures adopted by Suncor

It is reported that the company immediately took steps to mitigate the attack and engaged third-party experts to investigate and resolve the situation. Authorities have been notified and Suncor is fully cooperating with their investigation. However, the company warned that "as we work to resolve the incident, some customer and supplier transactions may be affected." Despite this, Suncor reassured the public that there is currently no evidence to suggest that customer, supplier or employee data has been compromised or misused as a result of the cybersecurity incident.

Considerations and warnings about potential cyber attacks

Stephen Gates, principal security expert at Horizon3.ai, commented on the incident suggesting that it could be a targeted attack on point-of-sale systems, as the organization is unable to accept and process credit card/ debt. Furthermore, the Suncor Energy cyberattack comes months after the UK's National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) warned of the possibility that Russian "state-aligned" groups could launch destructive attacks on critical national infrastructure.