A Tulsa tech company announced plans Friday to focus marketing of cybersecurity services specifically on small to midsized energy companies in Oklahoma.
AppSwarm, which specializes in accelerated development and publishing of mobile apps and other software platforms for business applications, noted in a release that Oklahoma’s energy assets and companies are particularly valuable and important to the security of the nation. It noted:
• Oklahoma is the fourth-largest producer of crude oil and of marketed natural gas among states.
• Oklahoma has five operable petroleum refineries with a combined daily processing capacity of nearly 523,000 barrels, nearly 3% of total U.S. capacity.
• The benchmark price in the domestic spot market for West Texas Intermediate crude is set in Cushing, which is home to about 15% of the nation’s commercial crude oil storage capacity.
• Wind supplied 35% of Oklahoma’s electricity net generation, and the state ranked third in the nation in total electricity net generation from wind.
AppSwarm said a threat detection software and cybersecurity consulting sales initiative geared specifically to energy and aerospace companies made sense for Oklahoma, as well as for the Midwest region. In the release, it pointed out that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, FBI and U.S. Department of Energy published a joint Cybersecurity Advisory in March with information on multiple intrusion campaigns conducted in recent years by Russian state-sponsored actors against U.S. and international energy sector companies. The White House also issued its starkest warning that Russia may be planning cyberattacks against critical-sector U.S. companies, including energy, aerospace and financial industries.
“Although not highlighting any specific threat, the aim was to put the U.S. Energy industry on full alert for potential foreign and malicious cyber-attacks in the coming months,” the AppSwarm release stated.
The company said it has launched a program to leverage its contacts within the energy industry, and growing partnerships with cybersecurity solutions providers, to target small to midsized energy and aerospace companies and suppliers to assist in upgrading security and threat detection protocols.
Source: https://journalrecord.com/2022/04/08/state-firm-focuses-cybersecurity-campaign-on-energy-companies/