Miners face rising threat of cyber-attacks

Miners are becoming increasingly vulnerable to cyber-hacking as they slash costs, automate equipment, rely more on the internet, and run mines from hundreds of kilometers away, a survey of nearly 40 mining companies has found. Threats can come from criminals looking to make money from supply disruptions, rivals hunting business secrets, governments and state-owned firms looking for a leg up in contract talks, and political and anti-mining activists, according to a report by Ernst & Young.
More than 40 percent of metals and mining companies in the survey experienced a rise in external threats over the past 12 months. "Criminals are attracted to the sector because of the massive cash flows," the advisory firm said in its report. The most vulnerable miners are small to mid-sized companies who produce strategic metals such as rare earths, tin and tungsten, rather than the mega miners, who have tightened security in their systems over the past few years.
"The big miners have more sophistication in their risk management systems and probably have already experienced some degree of hacking activity in the last couple of years. For them it's a real life battle," said Mike Elliott, Ernst & Young's global metals and mining leader. Back in 2009, former BHP Billiton Chief Executive Marius Kloppers told a US diplomat in Melbourne he was worried about espionage by China and competitors like Rio Tinto , according to a report on a diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks.
Elliott said one fairly large miner was hit by a cyber-attack in the past two years which it detected only by accident when it was examining the reliability of a piece of equipment in its supply chain. The company discovered coding in the software for the equipment had been changed with an unauthorised amendment.
"It was designed to cause a problem that never eventuated because they picked it up," Elliott told Reuters. He declined to name the company that was targeted or where it was located. "There are a lot more victims of this sort of activity than would be reported, because people don't like to talk about when these things are detected," he added. Iron ore miners are so aware of threats that one large producer requires staff to remove the batteries from their mobile phones at their most sensitive meetings, a person familiar with the company told.