A group of hackers has attacked the websites of energy companies in the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, India. The hackers are demanding 6 Bitcoins to restore the sites.
T Srinivas, Managing Director of Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (SPDCL), said that the company's website is up and running and has not been compromised. On the other hand, Company Limited has already started restoration processes.
KCS Raghu Vir, a police officer specializing in cybercrime, said that hackers who carry out ransomware attacks usually have a link through which the ransom payment is made (in this case 6 Bitcoins). However, in this particular attack, the sites were restored to normal before the payment link was sent. The police are still investigating the case.
Authorities still do not have information about the origin of the hackers, but previous ransomware attacks on sites had been detected and proven to originate from Central Europe and Africa.
The director of the SPDCL company states that specialists have already taken over the management of the sites and systems and are taking care of their restoration. Specifically, he states: “ website is open now. There is no damage to the data. Our servers are safe.”
The attack was carried out through an email containing the virus. An employee of a power company in Telangana received an email from an unknown source yesterday. When the email was opened, the ransomware gave hackers the ability to take control of the entire system.
However, the attack also affected the systems and sites of companies in the state of Andhra Pradesh, as according to the police, they are connected to the systems of Telangana.
K Vijayanand, Chairman and Managing Director of Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Limited, said that TCS specialists have taken up the task of restoring the site. The good news is that the attack did not significantly affect the company.
