Global CEOs commit to a unified approach on cyber resilience

For the first time, prominent oil and gas stakeholders are urging the sector to band together to combat cyberattacks that are destructive to the business.

The move comes in reaction to massive cyber breaches in the last two years that have exposed key infrastructure’s vulnerability. In awareness of the need for significantly stronger collective readiness, 18 firms have signed a Cyber Resilience Pledge for the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2022.

“First endorsed by key CEOs in the oil and gas value chain, the Cyber Resilience Pledge is a landmark step as it signals recognition of the complexities of building a cyber-resilient industry ecosystem and a commitment towards collective action to achieve it,” said Alexander Klimburg, Head, Centre for Cybersecurity, World Economic Forum. “The World Economic Forum Centre for Cybersecurity is proud to have led this effort in conjunction with our partners. We look forward to scaling the pledge to other industries in the future.”

The pledge promotes a shift towards a resilience-by-design culture, ecosystem-wide, cyber-resilience plans and greater collaboration between players.

“As the world deepens its digital footprint, cyber threats are becoming more sophisticated,” said Amin H. Nasser, CEO of Saudi Aramco. “But one company, working alone, is effectively like locking the front gate while leaving the back door wide open.” Companies must work together if they want to truly protect the critical energy infrastructure that billions of people around the world depend on.

Common, industry-wide, cyber-resilience practices are essential, said Robert M. Lee, CEO and Co-Founder of Dragos. “As our world becomes more digitally connected it is imperative, especially for our industrial and operational technology, to ensure our infrastructure’s secure and safe operation.”

The pledge intends to galvanise worldwide support for improving cyber resilience across industry ecosystems. The pledge’s signatories agree to collaborate and take collective action on cyber resilience. The commitment, which was launched with the cooperation of organisations participating in the World Economic Forum’s Cyber Resilience in Oil and Gas initiative, aims to encourage companies to take meaningful steps to improve cyber resilience across their industry.

The organizations that have taken the pledge are: Aker ASA, Aker BP, Aramco, Check Point Software Technologies, Claroty, Cognite, Dragos, Ecopetrol, Eni, EnQuest, Galp, Global Resilience Federation, Maire Tecnimont, Occidental Petroleum, OT-ISAC, Petronas, Repsol and Suncor.

The Forum will continue to promote the pledge across diverse industrial ecosystems in order to make the cyber resilience principles easier to adopt.