Cyber attack on billing section of Haryana Power Corp; Rs 1 cr demanded

Pradeep Sharma

Advertisement

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 28

The billing data of the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN), one of the two power discoms monitoring electricity billings of nine districts of Haryana, has come under cyber attack.

Sources said the IT wing of the UHBVN had been targeted and billing data of thousands of consumers had been hacked.

The cyber attack occurred shortly after midnight on March 21.

When the UHBVN Head Office at Panchkula opened on March 22 the computer screens flashed the message demanding Rs 1 crore in bitcoins from the Haryana Government to retrieve the data.

Officials said that on the complaint of the power department a case under various sections of the IPC and IT Act had been registered.

Meanwhile, some of the data is being uploaded afresh from the log books.

The UHBVN monitors billings and other related aspects of power consumers in nine districts of Panchkula, Ambala, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Panipat, Yamunanagar, Sonepat, Kaithal and Rohtak.

The loss of data would mean that the department would not have any record of power bills of the consumers besides records of the arrears.

Recently, there have been several complaints when consumers alleged that they had been getting inflated power bills.

Last year, nearly a hundred countries, including India, were hit by what is believed to be that used “cyber weapons” stolen from the US’ National Security Agency to lock up computers and hold users’ files for ransom. It is not yet known whether the attack on Haryana Power Corporation is related to last year's attacks.