Haryana discom’s billing data hacked
Chandigarh, March 28
The billing data of Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN), one of the two power discoms catering to nine Haryana districts, has been hacked.
Sources said the Automatic Meter Reading System (AMR) with the billing data of 4,000 industrial consumers was targeted shortly after March 21 midnight. The following morning, computer screens at the UHBVN head office in Panchkula flashed a message from hackers, demanding Rs 1 crore in Bitcoin from the state government to retrieve the data.
The UHBVN monitors billing in Panchkula, Ambala, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Panipat, Yamunanagar, Sonepat, Kaithal and Rohtak districts. A spokesman claimed the data had not been lost and the consumers would not be affected.
"A system study was carried out by experts. The database was found encrypted. The backup of the encrypted database was taken for further retrieval. The Nigam has already initiated steps to replace the system with a technologically advanced one which would be operational by the end of May, " he added.
Last year, about 100 countries, including India, saw a cyber attack. "Cyber weapons” stolen from the US National Security Agency were used to lock computers and hold users’ files to ransom. — TNS
