The German subsidiary of the Russian oil giant Rosneft has been subjected to a cyberattack and is now trying to cope with its consequences. According to the German newspaper Welt, Rosneft Deutschland was allegedly attacked by hackers supporting Ukraine on the night of March 11-12.
The German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) offered the company its assistance in restoring systems and issued a warning to other representatives of the energy sector.
BSI suspects that members of the Anonymous hacktivist movement are behind the attack, seeking an end to the conflict in Ukraine. Apparently, Anonymous has already attacked and paralyzed Rosneft’s international website back in late February. A few days ago, it was also reported that the group gained access to the servers of the German “daughter” of a Russian state-owned company and stole its data.
The attack did not affect current business or supplies, but systems were significantly affected. In particular, various processes were disrupted, including the possibility of concluding contracts.
The central place in the German oil business is occupied by the Druzhba oil pipeline, through which oil is delivered from Russia to the German city of Schwedt via Poland. Rosneft itself is the largest oil producer in Russia. Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is the head of the Supervisory Board of the company.