Hackers have unintentionally sent out cyberattacks on a U.K water supply company, South Staffordshire PLC. The cyberattack targeted another U.K water supply company, Thames Water.
It is still unknown how the hackers managed to misidentify the victims. The group criticized the company’s security saying other hackers could break in and also claimed to have stolen 5TB of data from Thames Water. In a statement, the alleged hackers, Cl0p ransomware group, claimed attacks on Thames Water.
“Thames Water supplies much of critical water services to people and companies. Companies like this have much responsibility . We will contact them and tell them that they have very bad holes in their systems,” Cl0p added.
“We spent months in the company system and saw first-hand evidence of very bad practice. The company is all for money and does not deliver reliable service.”
The company however addressed the claims stating they did not experience any cyberattack and their systems are still up and running. “This is thanks to our robust systems and controls over water supply quality we have in place at all times. As well as the quick work of our teams to respond to this incident and implement the additional measures we have put in place on a precautionary basis.”
According to Bleeping Computer, Thames Water is the largest UK water supplier and wastewater treatment provider. Thames Water disputed the claims referring to it as a “cyber hoax”. South Staffordshire which serves over 1.6 million U.K residents claimed to have experienced a cyberattack.
However, they assured customers that all service teams are operating as usual, so there’s no risk of extended outages.
Cl0p ransomware gang claimed to have accessed SCADA(Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems so they can harm over 15 million customers. Cl0p typically encrypts files on victims’ computer networks to make their systems unusable. The threat actors encrypt the file until the victim pay; often, the demands are millions of dollars.
Hackers Threaten to go Public
Furthermore, Bleeping Computer observed that one of the leaked files from Cl0p addressed South Staffordshire PLC. Cl0p said they have decided not to encrypt the data although they are demanding ransom payments. They threaten to release the stolen data if the ransom demands are not met.
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre(NCSC) has advised organizations not to make any ransom payments. Furthermore, they added that no actions have been guaranteed by the hackers and it contributes to the success of the criminal enterprise.
