Oil India Limited (OIL) has been targeted by a significant hack that has compromised some of the company's systems. The company's headquarters in Assam have been targeted by a ransomware attack.
According to media sources, the hackers have sought a ransom of 196 bitcoins. That is somewhat more than 61 crore at current pricing (approx. 31.35 lakh per bitcoin).
While the breach is significant and the infection is severe, the business has halted the compromised systems as a preventive measure, according to Tridiv Hazarika, the company's spokeswoman.
This should assist the organisation in preventing the infection from spreading to other systems, especially because the vector used in the cyberattack is still being investigated.
Hazarika further stated that the cyberattack has had no effect on the company's day-to-day operations thus far and that drilling operations are continuing uninterrupted.
Another Indian infrastructure is also under threat.
This is not the first or last time an Indian infrastructure business has been targeted by cybercriminals. However, it was recently claimed that suspected state-backed hackers were behind the attack on the Indian power infrastructure.
According to research by threat intelligence firm Recorded Future, China's cyberattack against India's power system might be part of an espionage operation. According to the study, this might have been an attempt to gather key data for China's future actions against India.
"The sustained targeting of Indian power grid assets by Chinese state-linked entities provides limited options for economic espionage or traditional intelligence collection," according to the Recorded Future research.
Earlier in 2021, Record Future uncovered Chinese malware infiltrating the Indian power system months after the Galwan valley hostilities erupted in 2020.
Simultaneously, Mumbai, India's financial centre and one of the worst-affected locations during the initial wave of the COVID-19 epidemic, had a city-wide blackout. This compelled hospitals around the city to switch to emergency generators in order to maintain vital life support systems operational.