Cybersecurity in Oil and Gas - Thematic Research

Cybersecurity in Oil and Gas - Thematic Research

Summary

May 2022 marked the one- year anniversary of the Colonial Pipeline attack. The event in 2021 was nothing short of a wake- up call for the oil and gas industry, which has in recent years embraced the benefits of digital technologies, whilest being relatively naïve about its associated risks. However, a year later and oil and gas companies still remain highly vulnerable to cyber- threats as their digitalization continues to take place at breakneck speed. This report discusses how cybersecurity is impacting the oil and gas industry, how this market is expected to grow in the future, as well as the industry's leaders and laggards.

Cybersecurity has never been more critical to oil and gas

The Colonial Pipeline attack in May 2021 was a wake-up call that highlighted the vulnerability of the oil and gas industry to cyber threats. Cyber threats have always presented a risk to oil and gas companies. However, several factors, such as COVID-19 and the industry’s digitalization, have heightened the sector's vulnerability. For example, the former caused a rapid increase in cyberattacks as cyber criminals exploited the disruption caused by widespread lockdowns.

Energy’s cybersecurity market will continue its growth

As critical national infrastructure, oil and gas companies are key targets for cyber criminals. Cyberattacks on oil and gas companies promise maximum disruption and extortion opportunities. As a result, leading oil and gas companies are fortifying their cybersecurity posture by investing heavily in this theme. GlobalData predicts cybersecurity spending within energy will reach almost $10 billion by 2025. Robust cybersecurity is no longer just a case of best practice but is critical to the safe and reliable operation of companies within the oil and gas industry.

Increasing digitalization will bring risks as well as rewards

As the oil and gas industry undergoes digitalization, the cybersecurity market within the sector will also experience growth. Companies that maintain cybersecurity as a central tenet of their digital strategy stand to gain the most—however, companies failing to sufficiently invest in cybersecurity face financial and reputational harm. Finally, technology vendors that recognize the industry's specific requirements, such as the challenge of protecting aging industrial assets, will become leaders within the oil and gas cybersecurity market.

Leaders and laggards

GlobalData’s cybersecurity value chain for oil and gas is broken down into tech vendors within cybersecurity more broadly, tech vendors specializing in oil and gas, and the industry’s leading adopters of cybersecurity. Listed below are some of the leaders and laggards within cybersecurity in oil and gas.

Cybersecurity tech vendors specializing in oil and gas

• Leaders: Siemens Energy, RigNet, Fortinet, Forescout, Mission Secure, Sectrio, Kognitiv Spark, XONA, Darktrace, EY.

• Leaders: OMV, ExxonMobil, Equinor.
• Laggards: Shell, Saudi Aramco, Chevron, Reliance Industries, Rosneft.

• The Colonial Pipeline attack in May 2021 was a wake-up call that stoked cybersecurity concerns in the oil and gas industry and beyond. GlobalData’s Emerging Technology: Sentiment Analysis Q1 2022 illustrates that the reverberations from this event are still being felt. Cybersecurity was ranked the second most disruptive theme behind artificial intelligence (AI), with just under 63% of respondents indicating that they expected cybersecurity to disrupt their industry in the next year. The critical nature of oil and gas infrastructure in an increasingly unstable world will heighten the risk of cyberattacks.
• On March 21, 2022, President Biden said intelligence indicated Russia was exploring a cyberattack against the US. He urged critical infrastructure owners and operators to “accelerate efforts to lock their digital doors.” The capacity for severe disruption, combined with the convergence of OT and IT and inadequately protected oil and gas infrastructure, will see oil and gas companies become prime targets during future conflicts. The ever-increasing threat of cyberattacks will drive an increase in cybersecurity spending. Global cybersecurity revenues are expected to reach $198 billion in 2025, recording a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.5% between 2020 and 2025. The energy industry will be an important driver of increasing cybersecurity revenues globally. Cybersecurity is the most mentioned technology theme in oil and gas company filings. In 2021, cybersecurity appeared over 10,800 times, an 11% increase from the previous year. This illustrates how events such as the cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline have increased engagement with this theme, making it a chief concern for the industry.

• The detailed value chain is comprised of hardware, software, and services. The value chain is further broken down into chip-based security, identity management, network security, endpoint security, threat detection and response, cloud security, data security, email security, application security, unified threat management, vulnerability management, managed security services, post-breach response services and risk and compliance services. Leading and challenging vendors are identified across all of the value chain's segments.
• Challenges the oil and gas sector is currently facing are outlined, and how these interact with the theme of cybersecurity are explored. Details case studies of how oil and gas companies are boosting their cybersecurity posture are also given.
• Forecasts of cybersecurity revenues to 2025 are split by hardware, software, and services. An overview of key mergers and acquisitions between oil and gas companies and cybersecurity vendors between March 2021 to April 2022 is provided. A comprehensive industry analysis is also provided, looking at company filings, hiring, and social media trends related to cybersecurity within the oil and gas sector.
• A timeline highlighting key milestones in the relationship between cybersecurity and the oil and gas sector is given. A list of leading cybesrecurity technology vendors, a separate list of cybersecurity vendors specific to oil and gas, and leading industry adopters is provided. Finally, thematic scorecards rank integrated oil and gas companies on 10 themes including cybersecurity.

• To understand the impact cybersecurity is having on the oil and gas industry.
• To identify the emerging trends in this theme and how these developments might advance in the future.
• Learn about the different use cases of cybersecurity in the oil and gas and how cybersecurity relates to the sector's challenges. View market forecast data for cybersecurity technology up to 2030.
• Source the leading cybersecurity vendors for the oil and gas sector from our winners lists and shortlist potential partners based on their areas of expertise. GlobalData’s thematic research ecosystem is a single, integrated global research platform that provides an easy-to-use framework for tracking all themes across all companies in all sectors. It has a proven track record of identifying the important themes early, enabling companies to make the right investments ahead of the competition, and secure that all-important competitive advantage.