MayJune 2020 MaiJuin 2020 23 de v elopment s T he mining industry is unique in it s c omple xity the v alue of it s dat a the type of equipment the sc ale of the oper ations and the natur e of the en vir onment that is being oper at ed in Br e w er said T he dat a that a mining c ompan y has is v e ry e xpensiv e with r espect t o mone y and time t o obt ain and of gr eat v alue t o the c ompan y moving f orw ar d Losing this dat a t o a cyber spy c ould mean serious f inancial damag e t o the c ompan y and it s shar eholder s Another point is that when y ou ar e under gr ound moving lar g e object s thr ough small spac es y ou r equir e c o m ple x critic al c ommunic ation infr astruc tur e t o ensur e e v e ry thing runs eff iciently and most of all saf ely he c ontinued If a thr eat act or g ot c ontr ol of that it w ould cr eat e a v e ry dang er ous en vir onment f o r those w orking under gr ound W ith the rise of aut omat ed machinery and Int ernet c onnect ed mines mining c ompanies ha v e alr eady incr eased their risk of cyber at t ack W ith what Br e w e r r e f e r s t o as the thr eat surf a c e incr eas ing e v en mor e with emplo y ees w orking r emot ely the dang er is e v en gr eat e r In a ne wslet t er sent out t o it s mem ber s Global Mining Guidelines Gr oup GMG r e f err ed t o the nov el c o r ona virus as pos sibly the lar g est cyber security thr eat of all time GMG r e c ommended that it s member s s t ep up their cyber h y giene st andar ds by ensuring their modems and de vic es ar e digit ally and ph ysic ally pr ot ect ed by in v asion and by t eaching emplo y ees t o a v oid clicking on suspicious emails and links ho w t o pat c h and updat e their s y st ems and t o a v oid w orking out side an y off icial channels or de vic es if pos sible GMG also r e c ommended that c ompa nies implement a busines s c ontinuity plan BCP a c o nting ency plan in the e v ent of the emer g ency if the y ha v e not alr eady done so A dditionally c ompanies will need t o learn ho w t o str atify priori tiz e and out sour c e inf ormation security oper ations during this time of r emot e w orking and tight er budg et s F or Br e w e r cyber security must be manag ed fr om se v e r al diff er ent aspect s of a c ompan y s cultur e Fir st off y ou need t o kno w wher e y o u st and Br e w er said A s ses s y our cur r ent postur e holistic ally fr om a security per spectiv e T his has t o include policy pr oc es s people t echnology and ph ysic al en vir onment in which infr astructur e is housed Onc e y ou kno w what y ou ar e mis sing g et it f i x ed f ollo w best pr actic es and ha v e someone monit or f or y ou A dditionally sa ys Br e w e r it s impor t ant that that someone be qualif ied t o pr operly pr ot ect the c ompan y s s y st ems T her e is a r eal t alent short a g e out ther e and as signing y our IT t eam or in some c ases y our c omput er guy t o these t asks is just plain W ell let s just sa y I doubt an y c ourt w ould f ind it t o be r e a sonable that someone who has so much at st ak e w ould belie v e something as c o m ple x and e v e r changing as cyber security c ould be handled pr operly by people who ar e not e xpert s CIM Husk y cut s c apit al spending as U S oil pric es fall belo w z e r o On April 20 the pric e of a barr el of W est ern T e xas Int ermediat e WTI crude oil bec ame neg ativ e f or the f i r s t time in hist ory W ith c ontr act s f or Ma y deliv ery set t o e xpir e the ne xt da y tr ade pr es sur e led the global benchmark f or oil pric es t o f all t o U S38 7 6 T he same da y Husk y Ener gy further r educ ed it s 20 20 c apit al e xpenditur es t o bet w een 1 6 t o 1 8 billion do wn 50 per c ent fr om the 3 2 t o 3 4 billion origi nally announc ed in Dec ember 2019 T h e c ompan y also announc ed it w as incr eas ing it s liquidity by 500 million f or a t o t a l of 5 2 billion and r educing pr oduction of it s Int egr at ed Corridor upstr eam oper a tions in S askat che w an and Albert a by mor e than 80 000 barr els per da y T he announc ement c omes mor e than a month af t er Husk y Ener gy f i r s t announc ed cut s t o it s 20 20 spending by 1 billion and lo w e r ed it s c apit al in v est ment guidanc e t o 2 3 t o 25 billion in 20 20 L a t er the same month S unc or Ener gy r e vised it s 20 20 guidanc e and lo w e r ed it s e xpect ed c apit al spending by 26 per c ent t o a r ang e of 3 9 billion t o 45 billion T he dr astic pric e dr op of WTI is a r esult of dwindling demand f or oil as man y ar ound the w orld ar e under some f orm of st a y athome or der s due t o the C O VID 19 pandemic Oil pric es ar e det er mined by futur es c ontr act s which ar e agr eement s t o buy and sell a c e rt ain amount of oil at a st at ed pric e at a futur e time F utur es r epr esent ho w much a buy er w ould pa y t o ha v e said oil deliv er ed t o them at a futur e dat e W ith Ma y c ontr act s f or WTI being f inaliz ed on April 21 it w ould mean an y one holding a futur e w ould agr ee t o ph ysic ally acquir e the oil T he pric e of W est ern Canadian Select W C S oil Canada s major oil benchmark similarly decr eased and r eached a lo w of 3 9 6 Despit e st a ying positiv e Canadian oil c ompanies ha v e been signif ic antly impact ed by the f alling oil pric es Oil pric es ha v e been f alling signif i c antly sinc e Mar ch when major global r estrictions t o try and curb the spr ead of C O VID 19 w e r e intr oduc ed c ausing a dr op in demand A pric e w ar bet w een S audi Ar abia and Rus sia r esult ed in a fur ther satur ation of oil on the mark et Courtesy of Fr eestocks Employees working from home increase the risk of entr y by cyber criminals