Mining Review Africa believes mining is under cyber snooping, and more malicious attacks could follow. This includes battery mineral mines that have not taken essential precautions. The e journal cites Mike Bergen, regional director for Middle East and Africa for GECI International in this regard.
Why Mike Bergen Fears for the Safety of Battery Mineral Mines
GECI is a technology consulting and digital transition company. It supports its clients through the phases of digital transformation including cybersecurity. Meanwhile, Mike Bergen says many mines have adopted automated vehicles, drilling and blasting without taking the possibility of cyber theft seriously.
Moreover, older ones date back to before malware even existed. Therefore, their operating technology systems are decades old and would not resist a determined attack. Some of those affected are battery mineral mines supplying minerals that are becoming essential for energy storage. We can’t even begin to imagine what would happen if their ventilation systems failed.
This is a ‘When What’ not a ‘What If’ Situation
The 2016 Ernst and Young Global Information Security Survey set the alarm bells ringing. That’s because “It identified 54% of mining companies experienced a ‘significant’ cyber incident in the past 12 months” according to Mining Review Africa. Moreover, Mike Bergen cites four dark reasons behind this, namely ransom, identity theft, intellectual property theft, and sabotage.
Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company Norsk Hydro had to default to manual operations in 50 countries in early 2019. This was after an email triggered ransomware attacks. Any equipment connected to the internet is at risk because of cyber crime. A hijacked self-driving truck could cause chaos thousands of feet underground. Moreover, some battery mineral mines are using internet-of-things technology to monitor the status of their tailings dams.
We don’t want to try guess what would happen if criminals seized control of automated drilling and blasting operations. We can only observe from where we are, and hope and pray this never happens. However, we fear the time may be drawing nigh when it does.
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