Hackers demand 6 Bitcoins as ransom for Telangana, AP power websites restoration

The website of Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (SPDCL) and Northern Power Distribution Company Limited (NPDCL) was hacked on Thursday. To restore the website, the Hackers demanded 6 Bitcoins which is nearly 20 Lakhs as ransom. However, the Project and IT director T Srinivas assured that there is no data breach and it is ready for use. A staff of the Power Distribution company of Telangana received a mail and after clicking on the link the entire system was hacked. However, the Websites are managed by IT company TCS.

Hyderabad: To restore the websites of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh state power utilities, hackers have demanded six Bitcoins (nearly Rs 20 lakhs) to give the key to restore the websites, said Police officer on Friday.

Project and IT director of Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (SPDCL) T Srinivas assured that there is no data breach and the website is open for use. He also added the website of Northern Power Distribution Company Limited is in the process of restoration.

"Normally the attackers leave a link for paying ransom, but in this case, the websites were restored to normalcy even before they sent the link. Further, our investigation is under process," said Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crimes) KCS Raghu to media. He also added the link which the malware leaves for ransom cannot be traced. Previous history of ransomware attacks proved they originated from Central Europe and some African nations.

A police officer quoted, a staff of the Power Distribution Company of Telangana received a mail from an unknown person on Thursday. At the moment he clicked on it, the virus (ransomware) attack took over the entire system. Along with the Telangana systems, the computer systems of power utilities in Andhra Pradesh also came under the malware attack because they are linked to each other.

Although the websites of SPDCL and NPDCL are managed by TCS.