Brazilian state oil company Petrobras says it is to spend more than £1billion on its IT infrastructure this year after claims the USA had been monitoring the company’s communications.
The company told the Brazilian senate last night it would spend R44billion this year and R$21.2billion by 2015 on its IT and telecommunications as it looks to ‘protect their strategic information’.
The figures come after it emerged Petrobras was among the companies allegedly monitored by the USA’s National Security Agency after documents were leaked by former contractor Edward Snowden earlier this year.
Senators questioned Petrobras president Maria das Graças Silva Foster about the claims the company had been monitored, fearing it could have given US firms an advantage in bidding for oil licences in the country.
“There are no reports of a cyber attack on our information network,” Foster told senators.
“Our IT technicians say there was no breach or any sign of a hacking attempt if there was one.”
Senators heard that Petrobras does not send strategic information through the internet, with it being held at a closed system in an encrypted data processing centre.
However, she admitted the company’s name featuring on documents was ‘very disturbing’.