South Staffordshire Water “was the target of a criminal cyber attack”, the company confirmed.
In a statement, he stressed that he “still delivers safe water to all of our clients are Cambridge Water and South Staffs Water.”
“This is thanks to reliable systems and controls over water supply and quality we have in place generally times as well as fast work of our teams to respond to this incident and implement the additional measures we have introduced in place on on a precautionary basis.
The statement was released after the ransomware group known as Cl0p, claimed to have hacked another water company’s networks.
Using your dark web site as part of of inept Cyber Extortion, group posted what turned out stolen identity documents.
No it’s not clear how the criminals managed to mistakenly identify the victim company.
Along with the release of files, group criticized the company’s security and suggested that other hackers might have hacked network as well as cause significant damage.
Cl0p usually encrypts files on victims computer networks to render IT systems unusable, unless those victims make an extortionate payment, often extending into millions of dollars.
In this case, Cl0p claims to have chosen not to encrypt company files. Instead, he demands extortion to prevent his release. of in stolen data and explain how managed to break in to network.
group claims to be able access SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems of companies that are software used to control industrial processes, such as water treatment plants.
In another unverified claim disputed by South Staffs Water, the extortionists state: “It would be easy to change the chemical composition of for their water, but it is important to note that we are not interested in harm people.”
Complex systems
Most water companies have complex systems in place to ensure quality of their water, including several stable checks and balances against failures of individual subsystems.
Groups of ransomware often over- declare your access in the web of victims for for the sake of of extortion, expecting their demands to be intensified in damaging news headers.
UK National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) advises organizations do not make extortionate payments how are they not guarantee any actions of intruders and also directly promote success of in criminal company.
Ransomware “largest online the threat’
This was previously stated by NCSC Executive Director Lindy Cameron. year: “Ransomware remains the biggest online a threat to the UK and we do not encourage or condone the payment of a ransom criminal organizations.
“Unfortunately, we have seen the recent rise in payments to ransomware criminals and the legal sector is vital role to play in helps reverse this trend.
“Cybersecurity is a team effort and we encourage the legal sector to work with us as we continue our efforts to fight ransomware and keep the UK safe online.”
In a statement, South Staffs said: “We are experiencing disruptions in our corporate IT infrastructure. network and our teams working on resolve it’s as fast as possible. It is important to emphasize that our customer service teams are operating still.”
BUT government a spokesman said: “We know that South Staffordshire Plc was the target of cyber incident. Defra and NCSC work closely together with company.
“After extensive participation with South Staffordshire Plc and the Drinking Water Inspectorate, we are confident that this will not affect the continuity of the water supply. of drinking water, and the company takes all necessary steps investigate this incident.”
