Ransomware hackers released compromised data after Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) missed ‘deadline’

Published by BBNTEAM at July 16, 2023

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Posted: Sunday, July 16, 2023. 4:15 pm CST.

By Aaron Humes: Some 355 gigabytes (GB) of compromised data from Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) was released on Friday by #RagnarLocker, a ransomware group that had apparently been targeting the utility company since May.

A BEL statement described the data as “confidential transactional information pertaining to Employees and Customers and other network configuration information stored on our file servers and on individual computers assigned to employees,” adding that no data had been lost from internal information technology software and database management for customer and financial data sets or operations network controlling the national electricity grid.

As reported by PLUS TV, BEL was given a deadline to respond to #RagnarLocker but failed to do so.

The hackers claim they were more interested in working with the company to properly secure the data but when BEL decided to go it alone they were “forced” to publish that which they had purloined.

BEL stated that back in May it had stepped up cyber security measures in response to an attack that month, and had successfully prevented hackers from encrypting data, locking the company out of its networks and demanding ransom.

As for the current situation, BEL says “Our teams are currently monitoring and investigating the full extent of the data leak and reporting the incident to the appropriate authorities. In the meantime, we ask our customers to bear patience with us as we continue to deploy preventative measures to stave off any further and future cyberattacks and protect the data and information used to provide essential services to our customers and the public.”

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