Power company still recovering from system hack
The Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) is still working to combat the effects of a hacking of its computerised systems earlier this month, Public Relations Officer of the company, Chevion Sears-Murray yesterday said.
“We were hacked recently and some of our systems are still down and we are working on it,” Sears- Murray told Stabroek News yesterday.
On February 14, the company had issued a release notifying of the attack, which it said occurred on February 6.
“On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, at approximately 04:21hrs, the Guyana Power and Light Inc. experienced a cyber-attack on the Company’s computerized sys- tems. Upon identification of this cyber-attack, GPL took immediate actions to isolate and prevent further spread of the malware. Permanent corrective measures were taken, which included but was not limited to initiating an Information System quarantine. During this period while our Company assiduously worked to restore normalcy, there were service interruptions for customers visiting our Offices attempting to submit queries and new service applications as our Customer Information System was taken offline. Service was incrementally restored at our Commercial Offices and Customer Call Centres between Friday, February 8, and Sunday, February 10. Our prepaid customers were able to purchase tokens during this period as per norm and our electricity supply was not affected by this incident,” the release said.
“The perpetrators of this act requested a ransom of bitcoins (digital money) to remove all encryptions from within the network. However, it should be noted that GPL Inc. has not heeded to and will not heed to any such ransom. GPL has commenced the process of strengthening its cyber-attack mitigation measures and Disaster Recovery planning strategies in alignment with industry best practices. It is therefore fitting, that we advise and encourage local companies with computerised systems to review their existing cyber security systems and Disaster Recovery plans also,” it added.
The power company thanked the public for its patience and support during the period of disruption.
Last week, GPL took to its Facebook page to again apologise to its customers, saying that there has been a delay in bills being dispatched, but offered alternatives for customers to check their balances and pay their bills.
“In the interim, customers are advised to utilise any of the following services to access bill balances,” the company said, as it listed the interactive voice response system, where balances are given through the 226-0783 number, the online enquiry system, which can be accessed at www.gplinc.net/billing and SMS Text Freedom, which allows customers to text their reference numbers to 624-0400 or 6088400 to receive information on their account.