Hackers target German subsidiary of Russian oil giant Rosneft

The Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) said on Monday that the German subsidiary of Russian energy giant Rosneft had been hit by a cyberattack, with the hacker group Anonymous claiming responsibility.

The BSI said that Rosneft Deutschland reported the incident in the early hours of Saturday morning.

On Friday, Anonymous had issued a statement claiming responsibility for the cyberattack and saying it had captured around 20 terabytes of data.

According to a report in the country’s local magazine, prosecutors in Berlin have initiated an investigation.

Rosneft Deutschland is said to have taken its systems offline as a result of a cyberattack. The company’s pipelines and refineries are still operational, according to the report.

Moreover, in early March, the BSI had warned of a heightened risk of cyberattacks and an “increased threat situation for Germany” after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, advising businesses to increase and strengthen their IT security measures. After facing a cyberattack, BSI has now issued a new cybersecurity warning to other companies in the oil industry.

Rosneft Deutschland claims to be responsible for a quarter of all crude oil imports into Germany in recent years and owns stakes in three refineries in the nation.

Igor Sechin, the CEO of Rosneft, is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder serves as chairman of the board of directors, a role that has seen him receive heavy criticism in recent weeks.

Since the commencement of the conflict in Ukraine, the Anonymous hacking group has claimed responsibility for cyberattacks on many Russian institutions, including the Kremlin, the defence ministry, the Duma lower house of parliament, and pro-Kremlin Russian media.

Furthermore, Anonymous said it “did not want to mess around directly with the Russian energy firms because there are some sanctioning states whose energy supply is linked to Russia”. “But Rosneft Germany is interesting enough,” it added.