Even as UHBVN is trying to upload the data afresh with log books, a case has been registered at the Sector 5 police station in Panchkula
Representational Image (Photo: Getty Images)
The billing data of over 26-lakh consumers with the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN), one of the two power discoms in the state, has been stolen and the hackers are demanding Rs. 1 crore in cryptocurrency, Bitcoins.
With its headquarter in Panchkula, the UHBVN, a Haryana government undertaking, is responsible for power distribution and retail supply business in the 10 northern districts — Panchkula, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Kurukhsetra, Kaithal, Karnal, Panipat, Sonepat, Rohtak and Jhajjar.
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Sources said the cyber attack took place after midnight on March 21 with the hackers targeting the billing data of UHBVN consumers. With all billing information hacked, hackers used the UHBVN computer screens to flash the message demanding Rs 1 crore in Bitcoins from the Haryana government to retrieve the data.
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Even as UHBVN is trying to upload the data afresh with log books, a case has been registered at the Sector 5 police station in Panchkula under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and IT Act.
Police sources said efforts are being made to locate the IP address of the computer used to hack the UHBVN portal.
As per the information, the number of UHBVN consumers — domestic, non-domestic, agricultural and industrial consumers — is 26,18, 196. The lost data had information about the power bills paid by various consumers, pending arrears and addresses.
The loss of data would mean that the department would not have any record of power bills of the consumers besides records of the arrears.
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