Canada Says ‘Anonymous’ May Attack Energy Firm Computers
Posted in Beavers by: adminCanadian security agencies have
warned energy companies such as Imperial Oil Ltd. (IMO) their
computers may be attacked by the Anonymous hacker group because
of the industry’s work developing Alberta’s oil sands,
government documents show.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, public safety department
and Communications Security Establishment Canada all
investigated threats against the industry between the start of
2011 and mid-March, according to documents obtained this month
by Bloomberg News under freedom of information laws. The RCMP
conducted a threat assessment after the hacker group that calls
itself Anonymous issued a press release in July 2011 accusing
oil-sands companies of being greedy and harming the environment.
“The Canadian law enforcement and security intelligence
community have noted a growing radicalized environmentalist
faction who is opposed to Canada’s energy sector,” the RCMP’s
assessment said. “Corporate security officers should verify
that security testing has been performed on public facing web
servers and mail servers.”
The hackers are attracted to high-profile projects such as
TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would
ship Alberta crude to the U.S., said Thomas Dean, associate
professor of electrical and computer engineering at Queen’s
University.
“It’s the high profile targets that tend to get hit,”
Dean said from Kingston, Ontario, where he researches software
security. The chance of an attack rests on whether the industry
makes new international headlines, he said.
Keystone Pipeline
President Barack Obama rejected TransCanada’s initial
application to build the $7.6 billion Keystone pipeline in
January after Nebraska officials said it threatened the state’s
water. The company re-applied with an altered route for the link
between Alberta producers and U.S. Gulf Coast refineries.
“Threats to Canada’s critical infrastructure are real and
will persist,” Tahera Mufti, spokeswoman with the government’s
Canadian Security Intelligence Service, wrote in an e-mailed
comment on the reports.
Anonymous has infiltrated the computer systems of Toronto’s
police, Bank of America Corp. and the Australian and Syrian
governments, according to the 44 pages of documents released by
Canada’s foreign affairs department. The group uses online
discussions instead of formal leadership to organize actions and
focuses on embarrassing prominent companies, Dean said.
Oil Reserves
Canada’s oil reserves are the world’s third largest after
Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, most of which in bitumen deposits in
Alberta. Environmental groups say extraction of the tar-like
bitumen from sand exacerbates global warming and threatens
wildlife. Energy exports made up about 23 percent of Canada’s
merchandise shipments in June, according to Statistics Canada
data. Crude output from Canada is forecast to more than double
to 6.2 million barrels a day by 2030, according to the Canadian
Association of Petroleum Producers, known as CAPP.
“Within this most recent threat, Anonymous could target or
be targeting the IT infrastructures” of companies including BP
Plc, Canadian Oil Sands Ltd., Suncor Energy Inc. and Nexen Inc.,
the RCMP said in the 2011 report.
The government documents didn’t show evidence of plans for
a specific attack and the RCMP said in the report there’s no
indication Anonymous intends to cause “material damage.”
“We were made aware of the issue by various third-parties,
including the government, and we also became aware of the issue
via our own monitoring systems,” said Patti Lewis, spokeswoman
for Calgary-based Nexen. “We have processes in place to
mitigate business impacts that IT security threats may create.”
Regular Meetings
Siren Fisekci, a spokeswoman for Canadian Oil Sands Ltd.,
the largest owner of Canada’s biggest oil-sands project,
declined to comment, as did Scott Dean of BP. Sneh Seetal of
Suncor didn’t return e-mails and a phone call seeking comment.
TransCanada didn’t immediately respond to phone calls and e-
mails on the issue.
CAPP President David Collyer met April 12 with the head of
Canada’s spy service, known as CSIS, federal lobbying records
show. That was “part of ongoing/regular meetings with CSIS to
ensure secure networks and infrastructure,” Travis Davies,
spokesman for the industry group, wrote in a May 11 e-mail.
The Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre, which brings
together staff from various government agencies, produced a July
2011 memo about the risks posed by Anonymous to Alberta’s oil-
sands, which was distributed to “stakeholders,” according to a
separate set of documents released by the spy agency under
freedom of information law.
“Anonymous has demonstrated that it can effectively mount
cyber attacks with the potential to disrupt corporate or
government operations,” the report said.
Energy Superpower
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has touted Canada as a secure
energy superpower and a major supplier of energy to the U.S.
through oil, natural gas and electricity shipments. Natural
Resources Minister Joe Oliver wrote an open letter in January
criticizing “environmental and other radical groups” that
“threaten to hijack our regulatory system to achieve their
radical ideological agenda.”
Anonymous doesn’t have formal leadership or spokesmen, and
often works by calling hackers to join causes that are chosen
through online polls, according to a government report.
Their attacks focus on overloading websites until they shut
down, posting embarrassing messages on an organization’s website
and stealing sensitive information, Dean said. Their capacity to
attack depends on if an idea gains enough popularity for a large
group of people to join together, he said.
“The biggest mistake to make with Anonymous is to think
they are some kind of single group with a cohesive message,”
Dean said.
Security Discussions
The RCMP shares some of its reports with companies and
holds regular security discussions with industry groups, Cpl.
David Falls wrote in an e-mailed response to questions. He
declined to comment on the specific threat posed by Anonymous.
Pius Rolheiser, a spokesman for Imperial, also declined to
comment on any specific threat. The Calgary-based company, which
is 70 percent owned by Exxon Mobil Corp., operates the Cold Lake
oil-sands project, has a stake in Syncrude and is building the
Kearl oil-sands mining project that’s scheduled to start up
later this year. The Anonymous press release referred to
objections in Montana to using a highway to send heavy equipment
to Kearl.
“Imperial maintains a high level of security in all
aspects of its operations and that includes cyber security,”
Rolheiser said. “We take all potential threats seriously.”
For Related News and Information:
To contact the reporter on this story:
Greg Quinn in Ottawa at
gquinn1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
David Scanlan at dscanlan@bloomberg.net;
Christopher Wellisz at
cwellisz@bloomberg.net
Article source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-08-27/canada-says-anonymous-may-attack-energy-firm-computers