6 drilling contractors to participate in GOM cyber-themed table top exercise

Six drilling contractors – Diamond Offshore, Helmerich & Payne, Nabors, Noble, Parker Drilling, and Rowan – will be joining more than 30 other organizations in a cyber-themed table top exercise on 8 August at the New Orleans office of the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). The cyber exercise is geared toward port and maritime stakeholders. It is being coordinated among the Maritime and Port Security Information Sharing and Analysis Organization (MPS-ISAO), the Department of Homeland Security’s National Cyber Exercise and Planning Program (NCEPP), and the US Coast Guard Outer Continental Shelf Division with its Area Maritime Security Committee’s Exercise Team.

The exercise’s fictitious scenario will likely involve an industrial control system (ICS)/SCADA incident on an offshore platform/port in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). Success criteria will include identification of the incident, communications and an understanding of cascading consequences across stakeholders. Recovery from this type of incident may also be examined.

For the exercise, the NCEPP team will provide resources to support administration, planning, preparation and exercise execution.

Participants include organizations from both the public and private sectors, along with academia outside the GOM, who have an interest in maritime and port cybersecurity; expertise in running a similar exercise or an interest in gaining such experience; expertise in identifying ICS/SCADA incidents; or an interest in understanding the impact of such an incident.