South Staffordshire Water has been targeted by hackers who reportedly demanded an extortion payment to prevent the release of data stolen.
A ransomware group known as CIOp, claims to have breached the company’s supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems and allegedly posted stolen identification documents online.
A spokesperson for South Staffs Water said: “”We are experiencing disruption to our corporate IT network and our teams are working to resolve this as quickly as possible. It is important to stress that our customer service teams are operating as usual.”
The company has also reassured customers that the safe supply of drinking water has not been affected.
“This is thanks to the robust systems and controls over water supply and quality we have in place at all times as well as the quick work of our teams to respond to this incident and implement the additional measures we have put in place on a precautionary basis,” reads the statement.
The Black Country and West Midlands water supplier said that it is working closely with regulatory authorities and the government while investigations continue.