Pakistan’s K-Electric private power utility, hit by Netwalker ransomware that led to the disruption of billing and online expert services.
Pakistan’s K-Electric private power utility, hit by Netwalker ransomware that led to the disruption of billing and online expert services.
K-Electric is the sole electricity provider for Karachi, Pakistan and is the largest power supplier, serving 2.5 million customers and employing over 10 thousand people.
The ransomware researcher Ransom Leaks first reported the incident to Bleeping Computer.
According to Rewterz, the cyberattack happened on September 7, morning. The attack is impacting K-Electric internal services and so far, does not appear to be spreading.
BleepingComputer emailed K-Electric about this attack, but they did not respond.
The company tried to set up a backup portal but have encountered difficulties with that as well.
The Netwalker ransomware operators demanded $3,850,000 ransom payment to unlock K-Electric’s systems. If the ransom is not paid within seven days, the ransom will spike up to $7.7 million.
The stolen data will be available publicly on the Netwalker site in just under three weeks from now.
From September 7, onwards, the customers of the company couldn’t access the services for their accounts. The good news is that the power supply was not affected.
“ The gang also claimed on the `Stolen data’ page of the Tor leak site that they have stolen unencrypted files from K-Electric before encrypting its systems, ” reported SecurityAffairs.
The company did not provide clear information contained in the stolen documents and how many were stolen.
“As such, customers may experience some disruption in accessing duplicate bills from the KE website. As an alternate, duplicate bills may be availed from the nearest K-Electric Customer Care Centre. The KE teams have initiated consultation with international information security experts and are also collaborating with local authorities in this regard. Any inconvenience to customers is regretted as the power utility is following cybersecurity protocols, ” reads the notification.
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