Qatar group falls victim to virus attack

And so the many shall suffer, for this now, is one of the ever changing subtle faces of war.


Qatar’s RasGas, one of the world’s largest producers of natural gas, has become the second major state-owned Middle East energy company to be hit by a severe computer virus in weeks.

The disruption came after Saudi Aramco, the government-backed company that is the world’s largest crude oil producer, was also attacked by a computer virus.

Saudi Aramco said in a statement on Sunday that it has restored its “main internal network services” after the attack on August 15. But oil traders in Houston, Geneva and London on Thursday said they were communicating with Aramco’s counterpart by fax and telex, as the company’s external email services were still down.

“It’s like going back 20 years in time,” a trader said about the use of the telex.

Aramco on Thursday said it had