DNV And Applied Risk Join Forces to Defend Energy Sector Against Escalating Threats

DNV, the independent assurance and risk management provider, will acquire industrial cyber security specialist Applied Risk. 

The two companies will join forces with the aim to build the world’s largest industrial cyber security practice, defending critical infrastructure in energy and other industrial sectors against emergent cyber threats. 
 
Threats to industrial cyber security are becoming more common, complex and creative. The energy sector now appears among the top three most attacked industries according to insurance firm Hiscox1. 

Recovery from an attack can cost organizations hundreds of millions of dollars and companies in the sector face new pressures to comply with tighter regulation. 
 
The energy industry is under increasing pressure to bolster their cyber security following a series of high-profile attacks causing disruption to energy supply in recent years. 

These include an attack on the Colonial Pipeline company in April 2021, which led to a temporary shutdown of the largest fuel pipeline in the US and caused temporary shortages of gasoline and other petroleum products. 

An attack on a series of Ukraine’s power grid substations left a quarter of a million people without power in 2015 and set a precedent for the vulnerabilities facing the world’s grids.  
 
The security of the renewables sector has also come under greater scrutiny after researchers from the University of Tulsa demonstrated how easy it can be to hack a wind farm. In 2017, the team accessed an unsupervised wind turbine and exposed several vulnerabilities that could give them full remote control of the mechanics of an entire wind farm and the potential to destroy all turbines within it. 

Gartner forecasts that cyber criminals will go beyond making attacks for financial gain this decade, and progressively weaponize industrial control systems to cause harm to human life2. 
 
“Energy assets, equipment and components are now at higher risk of new forms of cyber-attacks, as their control systems become increasingly connected. Life, property and the environment are at stake. DNV is investing significantly in helping our customers build a powerful force of defence. By joining forces with Applied Risk, we aim to build an industrial cyber security powerhouse to support governments, regulators, operators and their supply chains in managing these emerging risks,” said Remi Eriksen, Group President and CEO, DNV.