Pakistani power supplier K-Electric hit by NetWalker ransomware attack

Pakistani power supplier K-Electric hit by NetWalker ransomware attack

K-Electric suffered a targeted ransomware attack that affected its billing and online Services.


Pakistan’s leading electricity provider, K-Electric, which is the sole source of electricity for its financial hub Karachi has suffered a ransomware attack.


Reportedly, the company was targeted with NetWalker ransomware on 7th September 2020 in which the attack disrupted the billing and online services of K-Electric.


It is worth noting that just a few days ago NetWalker ransomware operators also targeted Argenian border services and halted its operation for more than 4 hours.



NetWalker ransomware operators have currently targeted several platforms worldwide (Image via the official website of NetWalker ransomware operators on the Tor browser.



K-Electric is serving over 2.5 million customers in Pakistan, and understandably, many of its consumers are unable to access most of the company’s online services. Fortunately, the power supply remained unaffected after the ransomware attack.


See: Revil hackers hit State Bank of Chile with ransomware attack


Ransomware operators have demanded $3,850,000 ransom and provided a Tor payment page link for paying the ransom. The attackers have threatened K-Electric that if the company doesn’t pay the ransom within seven days, they will increase it to $7.7 million.


 


A Stolen Data section on the Tor payment page states that the ransomware operators stole unencrypted data from K-Electric before launching the attack. The page, however, doesn’t mention how much data the attackers managed to steal.