A cyberattack on Italian contractor Saipem's servers in the Middle East has raised an important question: is digital infrastructure more vulnerable than ever before?

The Italian oil and gas contractor was hit by the Shamoon disk-wrecking virus, the same malware that struck Saudi Aramco in 2012. While an investigation into the extent of the damage is ongoing, Saipem said the hack caused an undisclosed amount of data to be deleted, forcing the company to partially shut down operations as it dealt with the ramifications of the breach.