BTC server, BP denies reports
Russian hackers on Monday crashed servers of a key
pipeline carrying oil from Azerbaijan to Europe bypassing Russia,
under the direction of the Russian secret service, 1news.az and
Aviation Week report.
Reportedly, Russian hackers have long been attacking the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline data server. Cyber-attacks have caused suspension in BTC operations, effectively shutting the second longest oil pipeline in the world and forcing the oil consortium to redirect the crude through the Baku-Novorossiysk northern route pipeline stretching to Russia.
Aviation Week says attacks had the same IPs as those of Estonian websites during the 2007 Estonian Cyberwar. The source stresses that FBI`s cyber crime officers and an unidentified intelligence service regained control of the pipeline`s data server and migrated it to Washington. The BTC pipeline has resumed normal operation.
Tamam Bayatly, the spokesperson for BP Azerbaijan, the BTC operator, has dismissed the media reports on the server crashing as false. According to her, there have been no interruptions in the conduit`s operation.
``The BTC main export pipeline has not suspended operation in the past few days,`` she added.
Reports circulated in 2003 hinted that the Russian GRU - part of Moscow`s military intelligence community - was allocating funds to hire and train mercenaries in pipeline sabotage, and some Western intelligence sources warned of possible sabotage acts against the lucrative 1,768 km BTC pipeline, which pumps oil produced from Azerbaijan`s Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) fields in the Caspian Sea to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan through Georgia.
Reportedly, Russian hackers have long been attacking the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline data server. Cyber-attacks have caused suspension in BTC operations, effectively shutting the second longest oil pipeline in the world and forcing the oil consortium to redirect the crude through the Baku-Novorossiysk northern route pipeline stretching to Russia.
Aviation Week says attacks had the same IPs as those of Estonian websites during the 2007 Estonian Cyberwar. The source stresses that FBI`s cyber crime officers and an unidentified intelligence service regained control of the pipeline`s data server and migrated it to Washington. The BTC pipeline has resumed normal operation.
Tamam Bayatly, the spokesperson for BP Azerbaijan, the BTC operator, has dismissed the media reports on the server crashing as false. According to her, there have been no interruptions in the conduit`s operation.
``The BTC main export pipeline has not suspended operation in the past few days,`` she added.
Reports circulated in 2003 hinted that the Russian GRU - part of Moscow`s military intelligence community - was allocating funds to hire and train mercenaries in pipeline sabotage, and some Western intelligence sources warned of possible sabotage acts against the lucrative 1,768 km BTC pipeline, which pumps oil produced from Azerbaijan`s Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) fields in the Caspian Sea to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan through Georgia.
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