It began with a routine maintenance visit. A contractor arrived to inspect a pressure valve. He plugged in his laptop, ran the diagnostics, and left without issue.
Two days later, the control centre lit up with alerts. A worm had slipped into the operational technology network. It moved quietly, cleverly, and without raising alarms until it was already inside. When the source was traced, it was not a foreign hacker or a nation state operation. It was the contractor’s unpatched laptop. One connection bypassed every security layer the company had invested in. The firewall held. Endpoint protection worked. But the breach did not come through the front door. It entered through a side gate, opened by someone they trusted.
Oil & Gas
This is the story no one likes to discuss in Oil & Gas.
It is not the dramatic ransomware headlines or the scramble to patch a zero-day vulnerability. It is the slow, silent failures of access control, third party oversight, and the casual assumption that partners are taking the same care you are.
“Just a quick fix”
Most oil and gas operations rely on a wide network of vendors. Equipment suppliers. Repair crews. Software integrators. Even service contractors like cleaners and catering staff. Many of these vendors have no dedicated cybersecurity team. Some do not understand the stakes at all.
We have seen entire sites compromised through a shared USB drive.
We have seen drilling schedules altered via unauthorised remote access granted for “just a quick fix.” We have seen default passwords reused across multiple clients without a second thought.
The paperwork that governs vendor relationships often focuses on liability disclaimers more than security protocols. The checklists exist, but enforcement in the field is inconsistent. Why? Because production takes priority. Because teams are stretched thin. Because “he’s been working with us for years.”
That is exactly how risk takes root, quietly, casually, and wearing a badge marked “authorised.”
We help oil and gas companies take control of third-party risk without slowing down critical operations. We create vendor access protocols that are practical, enforceable, and field tested. We map every third-party connection, from the contractor who logs in once a month to the supplier with daily remote access. And we train on site teams to ask the right questions when someone arrives with a laptop and a smile.
Because when an outsider’s device compromises your network, the impact is yours to carry. Your operations stop. Regulators start asking questions. And customers do not care whose logo was on the visitor’s badge.
We review every third-party connection and identify security weaknesses before they can be exploited.
We design and implement vendor onboarding, device checks, and access controls that work in real-world conditions.
We continuously track vendor logins and carry out random device inspections to catch risks early.
We limit vendor access to the systems they need, and automatically revoke credentials when work is complete.
We train engineers, supervisors, and site managers to validate devices and follow secure connection procedures.
We contain threats introduced by third parties, remove them from the network, and analyse their entry point to prevent repeat incidents.
When you work with us, you gain more than a cybersecurity service. You gain a strategic sentinel committed to your resilience.
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