IT support and cyber security for oilfield service companies

The call usually comes for one of these

Nobody in this business goes looking for an IT consultant on a slow afternoon. Something forces it.

• An operator wants your ISNetworld grade fixed The cyber security section came back short, the operator has flagged it, and the next job depends on clearing it.
• Avetta or ComplyWorks has added questions The prequalification you passed two years ago now asks about multi-factor authentication, endpoint monitoring and incident response, and the honest answer isn't obvious.
• A cyber insurance renewal The application asks whether MFA is enforced and whether backups are tested. Answering wrong is worse than answering no, because it can void the policy at claim time.
• Something already happened A fake invoice got paid, a mailbox started sending on its own, or a machine in the shop came up encrypted.

The prime-contractor security questions, and what they actually mean

ISNetworld, Avetta and ComplyWorks word these differently, but they are asking about the same six things.

Multi-factor authentication

Enforced on email and remote access, for everyone, including the owner. This is the one that fails most often, and it's the cheapest to fix. Turning it on across a Microsoft 365 tenant is an afternoon, not a project.

Backups, and a restore you've actually done

Microsoft doesn't back up your Microsoft 365 email and files the way most people assume. A questionnaire asks whether backups are tested; the answer is only yes if someone has restored something and can say when. I do the restore test and give you the date to write down.

Endpoint protection that's watched

Managed antivirus and threat detection on every machine, with someone looking at the alerts. Windows Defender left on default and never checked is not the same answer, and reviewers increasingly know the difference.

Written policies

An IT security policy, an acceptable use policy, and a password standard. These need to exist as documents, match what you actually do, and be signed. Policies that describe a company you aren't are worse than none.

Security awareness training

Short sessions plus phishing simulations, with a record of who completed what. The record is the part the questionnaire wants.

An incident response plan

One page naming who gets called, in what order, when a machine is encrypted or money goes out the door. It does not need to be long. It needs to exist and name real people.

I go through your specific questionnaire with you, tell you where you honestly stand on each line, fix what's short, and hand you the evidence to attach. If something is fine as it is, I say that too rather than selling you a product for it.

The rest of it: shop, office and lease

Compliance is the reason people call. It is not usually the only thing that needs doing.

Microsoft 365 for a crew that turns over

Licensing, mailboxes, and getting a new hire working on day one or a departure locked out the same hour. Seasonal swings are normal here; the account handling should keep up with them instead of being rebuilt each spring.

Connectivity at the lease and the yard

Starlink with cellular backup, wireless links between the office, shop and outbuildings, cameras and remote monitoring. I farm here, so I know what the distances and the weather do to a link and what a February wind does to a mount.

Phones and tablets in trucks

Company data on devices that ride in a truck and occasionally get left somewhere. Remote wipe, enforced screen locks, and separating company email from a personal phone.

Invoice and payment fraud

The common loss in this industry isn't ransomware, it's a convincing email asking that banking details be changed before the next payment. Email filtering ahead of the inbox, plus a rule everyone in the office knows about verifying changes by phone.

Why local matters for this

Most oilfield service companies out here are supported from Calgary, Regina or somewhere further, by a provider who has never seen the yard. That works until the wireless link to the shop drops, or a machine that runs a piece of equipment needs someone standing in front of it. Then you find out what a four-hour drive costs, or that nobody is coming at all.

I work across southwest Saskatchewan, on site or remote depending on the job: Swift Current, Kindersley, Shaunavon, Gull Lake, Leader, Cabri, Maple Creek and the country around them. This is a one-person practice with a deliberately short client list, which means the person who set your system up is the person who answers when it breaks. There's a named backup consultant if I'm ever unavailable, and every password lives in a vault you own, not me.

More on how I work, including pricing and after-hours.