Security News > 2020 > April > Oil and Gas Companies Targeted With Agent Tesla Malware
Oil and gas organizations have been targeted in r.ecent spearphishing campaigns using.
The second campaign appears to have started on or around April 12, attempting to deliver Agent Tesla to shipment companies in the Philippines.
Attacks targeting the oil and gas industry, Bitdefender notes, have been increasing in frequency since October 2019, peaking in February 2020.
"In this recent campaign attribution is all the more difficult as it's the first time we've seen the Agent Tesla spyware associated with a campaign on the energy sector, and that the infostealer itself is not something highly sophisticated, but something that can be purchased on underground forums and used by anyone in various other campaigns," Arsene said.
"This is part of a growing threat against industrial organizations, including oil and gas companies, that rely heavily on remote access to maintain their operations. This reliance is even more pronounced in the era of COVID-19. Financially motivated hackers are taking notice and engaging in targeted spearphishing campaigns to compromise the accounts of those with privileged access for the purposes of stealing data or extorting operations with ransomware," Dave Weinstein, CSO at Claroty, said in an emailed comment.