Cyber Attack at Oil India HQ at Assam
“Oil India Limited’s registered headquarter at Duliajan in Assam’s Dibrugarh district is purportedly under a cyber attack, leading to the company shutting down all its computers and IT systems at the office company”, expressed a spokesperson at the company. Located in the upper northeast of India, Duliajan is the ideal setting for the field headquarters of Oil. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas oversees the operations, with its headquarters in Duilajan, Assam.
“Outrages were observed on Monday by employees, according to reports. Sunday, the ransomware attack is estimated to have happened. Since Monday, the systems have been shut down, and efforts are on to resolve the issue”, said Oil spokesperson Tridiv Hazarika.
“The company was forced to withdraw the affected system from LAN connection after they got to know that the virus hit three or four computers on Monday. As a result, no computer at the headquarters can access the internet”, Tridiv Hazarika added.
“The PSU (Public Sector Undertaking in India) lodged an FIR at the Duliajan police station. The cyberattacker demanded $7500000 (57 crores) as ransom through a note on one of the infected PC. A case was also registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and IT Act”, a senior Assam Police official said the investigation has also stated.
Police also stated that “they received a mail on 12.04.2022 from Keshab Bora DGM-IT of the IT department stating that on 10.04.2022, a cyber attack of ransomware occurred on Oil’s one of the workstations of Geology and Reservoir Department. After performing a preliminary investigation, Oil’s network, server, and client’s PC faced network outrage.”
The PSU is taking help from an internationally reputed IT security consultant, and “We are focusing on a restoration exercise. The computers will be restored phase-wise”, said Hazarika. The attack did not affect the company’s day-to-day production, and the drilling activities were also going on without interruption.
