Cyber security firm Symantec has warned that a politically motivated group of hacktivists has threatened to launch cyber attacks against oil, gas, and energy companies in the Middle East.

Security experts are following closely a recently issued threat of "Operation Petrol" by Anonymous, a group mostly Middle East-based, said a statement from Symantec.

Anonymous is targeting the oil firms as it disagrees with the US dollar being used as the currency to buy and sell oil, the statement said.

The attacks are likely around June 20, it said.

Government targets Symantec has cited include those in Saudi, Kuwait and Qatar.

"Public announcements by these groups are often used as a means to gain notoriety or media attention and can be of highly volatile in credibility," the statement said.

These attacks are typically consisting of DDoS activity against publicly accessible webservers, website defacement efforts, or data exploitation.

Symantec takes these threats seriously and has detection in place, it said. - TradeArabia News Service