CERT Capacity in the Petroleum Sector of the North Sea
Channel: FIRST
Date: 2021-02-12

The independent research institute SINTEF has performed an empirical study of cyber incident response readiness in the Norwegian petroleum industry. This talk will present results from the interview study, that included 12 subject area experts in oil and gas companies and drilling operators, plus 8 subject area experts in national and international CERT teams. The study shows that smaller actors suffer from limited collaboration, especially in active incidents or crises. Oil and gas companies and drilling companies share information and experience in various (virtual) meeting places and forums organized by external actors, but there is little focus, especially among the smaller companies, on systematic sharing of information and experiences of cyber incidents. There is a wish for a more proactive CERT function and particularly an information sharing center (ISAC). Not all oil and gas companies or drilling rig operators distinguish between cybersecurity incidents in IT and OT systems, and views vary widely concerning who is responsible for security in and between IT and OT. The results from this study were published in a Norwegian report in 2019 by SINTEF and the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority, but it has yet to be presented to a wider, international audience.
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Dr. Marie Moe cares about public safety and securing systems that may impact human lives. Marie recently joined mnemonic as a senior consultant in threat intelligence and incident response. Before this she was a senior scientist and research manager for the Infosec research group at SINTEF. She is also an associate professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, where she teaches a class on incident response. She has experience as a team leader at the Norwegian Cyber Security Centre NorCERT, where she did incident handling of cyberattacks against Norway’s critical infrastructure. She is known for doing research on the security of her own personal critical infrastructure, an implanted pacemaker that is generating every single beat of her heart. Marie has been a proud member of the FIRST community since 2011, and this will be her fourth time presenting at the Annual FIRST Conference.