A cyberattack hit US oil giant Halliburton

US oil giant Halliburton announced that it was hit by a cyberattack that is affecting operations at its Houston, Texas offices.

Halliburton, a major U.S. oil company, announced that a cyberattack hit its IT infrastructure, particularly impacting operations at its Houston offices.

Halliburton Company is an American multinational corporation and the world’s second largest oil service company which is responsible for most of the world’s largest fracking operations. It employs approximately 55,000 people through its hundreds of subsidiaries, affiliates, branches, brands, and divisions in more than 70 countries.

“U.S. oilfield services firm Halliburton on Wednesday was hit by a cyberattack, according to a person familiar with the matter.” reported Reuters. “Halliburton said it was aware of an issue affecting certain systems at the company and was working to determine the cause and impact of the problem.”

The company announced it is working with “leading external experts” to investigate the attack and fix the issue, however, it did not provide technical details about the attack.

A person familiar with the matter told Reuters that the company has asked some staff not to connect to internal networks.

Experts speculate the company was the victim of a ransomware attack.

According to Reuters, the cyberattack impacted the company’s north Houston campus, as well as some global connectivity networks.

“We are aware of an issue affecting certain company systems and are working diligently to assess the cause and potential impact. We have activated our preplanned response plan and are working internally, and with leading external experts, to remediate the issue.” a company spokesman told the media.

Halliburton employs about 55,000 though hundreds of subsidiaries, affiliates and brands in more than 70 countries.

Organizations in the oil and gas industry are a privileged target for ransomware operations. In 2021, Colonial Pipeline paid a $4.4 million ransom to recover from the disruptive Darkside ransomware attack that impacted the gasoline supply in parts of the United States.

Pierluigi Paganini

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(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Halliburton)