Havtil and KraftCERT are preparing a major tabletop exercise for the petroleum sector this autumn, focused on coordinated response to digital attacks and cyber incidents. Grey Dawn Petroleum 2026 will take place in Stavanger on 22 and 23 September, and forms part of the 2026 Total Defence Year.

The scenario is built around a complex situation on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, combining cyberattacks, influence operations, and other incidents that test the preparedness of operators and their suppliers in parallel. The target audience covers operators, technical service providers, and the people who actually have to make decisions when something goes wrong: incident response specialists, emergency preparedness leads, risk owners, and communications staff.

The exercise builds on the updated national framework for handling digital attacks and cyber incidents, which clarifies how enterprises, sector response groups, and the National Cyber Security Centre coordinate during a serious event. Havtil holds the sector response group role for the petroleum industry, with KraftCERT running the operational side of notification and response. KraftCERT was set up in 2014 by NVE together with Statnett, Statkraft and Hafslund as Norway’s cyber response team for the energy sector. It works as both an incident response team and an information sharing hub, with members across power, petroleum, water, and process industry.

Worth noting that the focus is not just technical containment. Information management, shared situational awareness, and decision-making under pressure are explicit objectives. That is where most cyber exercises actually fall apart.

SOURCE: Havtil, no individual author listed, published 21 April 2026. https://www.havtil.no/en/explore-technical-subjects2/technical-competence/news/2026/grey-dawn-petroleum-2026-practice-responding-to-digital-attacks-and-cyber-incidents/

Supporting detail on KraftCERT: KraftCERT (now branded InfraCERT), https://www.kraftcert.no/en/

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