Wiregrass Electric Cooperative hit by a ransomware attack

Wiregrass Electric Cooperative, a rural Alabama electric cooperative was hit by a ransomware attack.

Wiregrass Electric Cooperative, a rural Alabama electric cooperative that serves about 25,000 members, was hit by a ransomware attack.

The cyberattack temporarily blocked the customers’ access to their account information, the cooperative is working to restore the impacted system.

According to the operating chief officer Brad Kimbro, Wiregrass Electric Cooperative did not pay the ransom demanded. Kimbro said that the cooperative did not suffer a data breach and the provision of the electrical service was not impacted. Kimbro also added that the personnel at the utility discovered the security breach on Saturday morning and only one server was impacted.

The cooperative was upgrading its computer systems last week before the attack.

“We at Wiregrass Electric Cooperative hold member information in the highest regard, and we always do everything we can to protect our members’ information,” Brad Kimbro, WEC’s chief operating officer, said via a news release. “We are thankful that no information has been accessed during this event.”

The organization took off-line the member account information and payment systems as a precaution.

“Our IT guys spent all weekend out of an abundance of caution looking at every server, every laptop, every computer, everything,” Kimbro said.

The IT staff worked over the weekend to restore access to the website, however, customers could still face problems while accessing the site.

“Out of abundance of caution, WEC is conducting system maintenance following the attack. The system maintenance prevents members from accessing their accounts and any payment systems.” reported the Dothan Eagle website. “Disconnects of prepay accounts that reach a zero balance will be suspended during the maintenance period.”“

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, ransomware)

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Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.