Ransomware Targets European Oil and Chemical Sectors

Reported from The Record, a series of ransomware attacks have been targeting oil and chemical suppliers in Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. While the attacks aren't identified as being linked, European officials investigating the matter have associated the attacks to BlackCat and Conti ransomware groups. A Belgium terminal operation, Sea-Invest was compromised with a ransomware attack on January 30th, 2022, fortunately, the company's operation was not heavily impacted. However, oil supplies did have to be rerouted following a cyber attack against Oiltanking GmbH and Mabanaft GmbH, subsidiaries of energy and chemical company, Marquard & Bahls. The attack has affected operations for Mabanaft as stated, "a unit of Manabaft that operates all terminals in Germany is operating with limited capacity and has declared force majeure, meaning it cannot fulfill its prior agreements due to unforeseeable circumstances."