Thought Leadership
In its latest quarterly report, the US oil services provider Halliburton quantified the financial consequences of a serious IT security incident. According to the report, the costs amounted to around 35 million US dollars by the end of September.
The incident became public on 22 August when the Group confirmed unauthorized access to parts of its IT systems. As an immediate measure, the company shut down various systems and launched a forensic investigation.
Ransomware group under suspicion
At the end of August, initial findings indicated that the ransomware group “RansomHub” could be behind the attack. Although Halliburton has not yet officially confirmed that it was a ransomware incident, the description of the events suggests this. The company admitted that the attackers gained access to and stole company data.
Remarkably, neither RansomHub nor any other group has publicly claimed responsibility for the attack. This could indicate that Halliburton may have complied with ransom demands.
Meanwhile, Jeff Miller, CEO of Halliburton, explained the financial impact: “The August cybersecurity incident and storms in the Gulf of Mexico resulted in a $0.02 drop in our adjusted earnings per share due to lost or delayed revenue.”
