Oil Giant Aramco Drills Down on Saudi ICS Security

Saudi Arabias national oil and gas company is investing in an operational technology security training academy for organizations across the Kingdom.

Aramco, the national oil company of Saudi Arabia, says that its exploring ways of strengthening cyber protections for Aramcos industrial assets and infrastructure, as well as those critical to Saudi Arabia more broadly.
Specifically, Aramco is looking to boost
security for operational technology (OT) environments
, and will be working with Dragos, a cybersecurity firm, to open a Saudi Arabia-based academy to provide training for that area.
Our work with Dragos serves to accelerate our countrys Vision 2030 objectives to foster economic relations with global partners and advance our digital economy, said Ahmad Al-Khowaiter, executive vice president of technology and innovation at Aramco, in signing the deal.
The initiative comes a decade after Aramco infamously experienced
a devastating malware attack
that infected 35,000 of its computers for several hours. The incident led Aramcos IT team to sever the connection of every company computer and data center, making day-to-day operations impossible apart from oil production analog activities.
The training partnership with Dragos showcases the benefits of industry collaboration, according to ESET global cybersecurity advisor Jake Moore.
Industrial systems have long been at risk from cyberattacks, so this impressive move highlights how industries are able to future-proof their businesses by protecting themselves with collaboration, he says.
Moore adds that
OT training
should never be underestimated or overshadowed, and called cybersecurity upskilling a significant asset for industrial companies like Aramco.
Hollie Hennessy, senior analyst at Omdia, praised the effort to make
ICS/OT security
more accessible to organizations in the Middle East, noting that providing specialist training helps with some of those organizations biggest challenges.
OT/ICS organizations struggle to communicate effectively across different parts of the business, do not always have adequate training for internal stakeholders, and, of course, are troubled by the skills gap — which is even more prevalent in an area where OT professionals and engineers (which are also difficult to come by) are often responsible for cybersecurity, she says.
She adds, ICS/OT cybersecurity is also often less mature than in the IT world, and so organizations need varying support at different stages of their journey and often cybersecurity services to help manage, assess, and develop.

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Oil Giant Aramco Drills Down on Saudi ICS Security