Mexico’s state-owned oil company, Pemex, has suffered a ransomware attack that demanded $4.9 million. According to Bloomberg, the attack is disrupting the company’s billing systems; Pemex is relying on manual billing that could affect payment of personnel and suppliers and hinder supply chain operations. Invoices for fuel to be delivered from Pemex’s storage terminals to gasoline stations were being done manually on Tuesday.
Hackers demand $5 million from Mexico's Pemex in cyberattack https://t.co/cq3HSGLcvo pic.twitter.com/DTk7cfYDxx
— Reuters (@Reuters) November 13, 2019
As more businesses in critical infrastructure seek to increase efficiency and cost savings through technology, they must be prepared to equally invest in securing their newly digitized businesses. Too often businesses, regardless of industry, embrace the technology and tools that will increase efficiency without considering the cyber risk that they are opening themselves up to by implementing that technology.
Organizations that deliver critical commodities must be especially cautious as the failure of these supply chains could bring not just their business, but their respective country or potentially the global economy, to a halt.