State-run Oil India has hired an agency to investigate the April 10 ransomware attack at its the oil PSU’s field headquarters in Duliajan (Assam). The agency will submit a report on the measures required to avoid such attacks in the future as well as on the genesis of the attack.

Oil India has intimated that on April 10 some malware infection followed by a demand for ransom in bitcoin was observed at field headquarters, Duliajan. Servers were shut down but field operations were continuing uninterrupted, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) said.

“A team from CERT-In, National Cyber Security Coordinator and National Security Council Secretariat has taken up the matter. OIL has engaged an agency to investigate, remediate and submit a report with complete details of the incident along with recommendations for prevention of any such incidents,” it added.

In a filing to stock exchanges on April 20, Oil India had said, “A malware threat on the lT systems of the company was noticed by the officials and on April 10 after receipt of the report of malware threat, precautionary measures were taken by the company.”

Network management service providers and the anti-virus team were also immediately informed about the incident. The incident was also reported to CERT-ln, the firm added.

“We would like to clarify that no attempt has been made by the Company to establish contact with the miscreants. We would like to state that there has been no bearing on the operations / performance of the company due to the said malware threat which warrants public announcement. Presently, uninterrupted operations are going-on and business continuity is maintained,” Oil India assured the shareholders.

According to the cybersecurity firm Trelix, attacks by cyber criminals on critical infrastructure in India has risen by 70 per cent in October-December 2021.

comment COMMENT NOW