High metal prices, covid-19 increase miners’ exposure to cyberattacks – report

As metal prices are hovering around all-time highs and mining companies are enjoying some of their best years with exceptional margins – a resilience that is expected to continue through 2021 –  Fitch Solutions Country Risk & Industry Research published a report highlighting how this scenario increases the importance of cybersecurity defence in the mining industry.

According to the market analyst, its 2020 megatrends survey results showed that cybersecurity ranked second in areas respondents in extractive industries were investing in most heavily, with 51% of respondents stating that their company was investing in the issue significantly, after energy efficiency. 


“This is in line with our view that cyber risks, owing in part to the proliferation of new digital technologies, increasing degree of connectivity and a material increase in the monetization of cybercrime, will become a larger cause for mining companies’ concern, and miners will increasingly try to protect themselves from breaches,” the report reads.

Fitch’s research found that companies producing strategic minerals and commodities of the future, namely lithium, cobalt, copper, nickel, aluminum, green steel and rare earths, are expected to especially be targeted, even by nation-states as countries join the race to acquire these metals.