Saudi Arabia´s response to cyber conflict: A case study of the Shamoon malware incident

This is a progress report on a case study of cyber-security at mega-size companies and its importance to the financial and operational well-being of the company. Our investigation focuses specifically on Saudi Aramco, the world´s largest oil company. The company was the target of a severe cyber-attack on August 15, 2012 that paralyzed their business network for several months. We analyze the company´s response to the attack and examine its current policies with regard to cyber-security. Our goal is to answer the main research question: How the Saudi Government, the primary stakeholder of Saudi Aramco, reacted and responded to the attack and how this response conforms to current cyber-security standards. The objective is to develop a best-practices benchmark of cyber-security that provides guidelines to be utilized by Saudi Aramco and similar companies.