Many fuel tank monitoring systems vulnerable to disruption

Internet-connected automatic tank gauges (ATGs) pose a serious but often overlooked cyber-risk to the thousands of gas stations, fuel depots, and facilities that rely on these devices to monitor tank levels, temperatures, leaks, and other critical operational parameters.

Pedro Umbelino, principal research scientist at Bitsight, is sounding the alarm on the issue at the 2025 RSAC Conference this week, warning that hackers could cause considerable chaos by tampering with ATGs.

Potential consequences include shutting off pumps and alarms, faking tank data, swapping tank labels, triggering false refills, and resizing tanks to make it appear they can hold more fuel than they actually can. Worse, a skilled attacker could rapidly toggle the ATG’s relays, potentially frying them or damaging the gear they control, like pumps and alarms, he says.  

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