Security News > 2021 > December > Utility biz Delta-Montrose Electric Association loses billing capability and two decades of records after cyber attack
A US utility company based in Colorado was hit by a ransomware attack in November that wiped out two decades' worth of records and knocked out billing systems that won't be restored until next week at the earliest.
"We are a victim of a malicious cyber security attack. In the middle of an investigation, that is as far as I'm willing to go," DMEA chief exec Alyssa Clemsen Roberts told a public board meeting, as reported by a local paper.
She is said to have confirmed that the co-operative's billing systems were also taken down by the attackers, telling a local TV station: "And we lost the majority of our historical data for the last 20-25 years. Since then we have been slowly rebuilding our network."
Billing systems are reportedly not going to be re-established until next week, almost a month after the attack.
Other local newspapers first reported the attack on 16 November, more than a week after it hit on 7 November.
"As a result, DMEA lost 90 per cent of internal network functions, and a good portion of our data, such as saved documents, spreadsheets, and forms, was corrupted. It also impacted our phones and emails."