Ransomware shuts down power supply in South African capital

South African energy supplier City Power was hit by a ransomware attack last week. Various systems had become unusable, which also compromised the power supply to consumers.

According to City Power, which operates from Johannesburg, all databases, applications and networks have become inaccessible as ransomware has encrypted computers. The company's website is offline and customers report on social media that they are having problems with their power supply, partly because City Power's power supply works on the basis of prepaid packages. More than 250,000 people are affected.

City Power says it has now got most IT systems running again, but many customers are still experiencing problems. According to the company, no customer data was compromised in the attack.

Ransomware, also called ransomware, secretly encrypts data on infected systems. Ultimately, the victim is asked for a ransom by criminals to restore access to their data. It is unclear with which ransomware variant City Power was infected and whether a ransom was paid.

In the Netherlands, many authorities warn about the dangers of ransomware. The risks of ransomware and other malware in the industry will increase during the Industrial Cyber Security event are discussed in detail.

Yet successes are also being achieved. The decryption software from No More Ransom, a collaboration between Europol and security companies, has kept at least $108 million in ransoms out of the hands of criminals since its inception. No More Ransom currently offers decryption tools for 82 different types of ransomware.