Aker Solutions’ Brazilian arm becomes a victim of cyber attack

Norway’s offshore engineering contractor Aker Solutions has revealed that its subsidiary CSE in Brazil was subjected to a cyber attack, which impacted its IT systems.

While confirming the cyber-attack late on Tuesday, 14 February 2023, Aker Solutions said it was working to contain and neutralise the attack. However, the firm underlined that it was not yet aware of the full extent of the situation. In addition, the Norwegian player confirmed that dialogue was being established with authorities in Brazil about the incident.

The attack is currently directed at CSE and Aker Solutions’ global IT organisation is working to resolve the situation together with external expertise. According to the company, the attackers claim that they have entered the IT systems, encrypted digital files and locked access to data. 

As a result, Aker Solutions highlights that several immediate mitigating actions have been carried out, including temporarily shutting down most of the IT systems used in the CSE business entity. The company claims that there are no indications that other parts of Aker Solutions’ IT systems than the ones of its subsidiary CSE have been infected so far.  

CSE, which is Aker Solutions’ fully-owned subsidiary with approximately 100 employees in Brazil, provides maintenance and modifications services to oil and gas installations offshore Brazil.  

“Aker Solutions is doing its utmost to limit the impact on employees, customers and other partners,” underscores the firm in its statement.

Regarding Aker Solutions’ activities elsewhere, it is worth noting that the Norwegian player recently formed a new joint venture with Drydocks World Dubai, a part of DP World, enabling the two firms to work together on upgrading an FPSO for one of the largest undeveloped oil fields in the UK.

Before this, Aker Solutions secured multiple contracts with Aker BP in December 2022, representing the largest value of contract awards in a single quarter in the firm’s history.