Sage Energy Partners/Sage Water Resources(SWR) issued a press release on Wednesday, announcing that their Duchesne location had been the target of a geopolitical cyber incident in the spring and that they have now recovered and completed a comprehensive security hardening of its automation system. The press release shares that on March 15, SWR detected unauthorized activity on its Programmable Logic Control automation system at its salt water disposal facility located in Duchesne. Forensic analysis conducted in coordination with federal law enforcement and cybersecurity experts confirmed the activity was a malicious logic manipulation carried out by an advanced nation-state threat actor. The attack was consistent with a broader, sophisticated campaign targeting critical infrastructure operators across the United States energy and water sectors. Thanks to the vigilance of an early morning truck driver and the rapid response of SWR’s operations team, the unauthorized logic changes were detected and mitigated before causing physical or environmental damage. The PLC operational logic has been successfully restored and is now protected by an extensive Virtual Private Network (VPN). “This incident underscores the reality that independent energy operators of critical infrastructure are on the front lines of global geopolitical threats,” shares Steve Crower, CFO/Secretary/Treasurer. “However, the SWR operations team response, combined with the support of world-class federal agents and our local private partners, has allowed us to bounce back stronger, safer, and fully hardened against future cyber security threats.” Cleve Pike, SWR President/CEO and Member of the Ute Tribe, says, “Our priority is the safety of our personnel, the Uinta Basin environment, the Ute Tribe, and our energy production partners. The resolve shown by our team, Sasquatch Automation, and the responding agencies shows exactly how the domestic energy market works together under pressure. We didn’t just patch a hole; we built a fortress.” Visit sagenergypartners.com for the entire announcement from Sage Energy Partners.
