US Oilfield Firm Halliburton Hit By Cyberattack

American oilfield services firm Halliburton has reportedly been struck by a cyberattack, with certain systems impacted.

Reuters, citing a person familiar with the matter as its source, reported that Halliburton on Wednesday was apparently aware of an issue affecting certain systems at the company and was working to determine the cause and impact of the problem.

Meanwhile a spokesperson for the firm told Reuters in an emailed statement that Halliburton was also working with “leading external experts” to fix the issue.

Halliburton cyberattack

“We are aware of an issue affecting certain company systems and are working diligently to assess the cause and potential impact,” a Halliburton spokesperson reportedly said in a statement. “We have activated our pre-planned response plan and are working internally and with leading experts to remediate the issue.”

The Reuters source said the cyberattack appeared to impact business operations at the company’s north Houston campus, as well as some global connectivity networks.

The company has asked some staff not to connect to internal networks, the person reportedly said.

Houston, Texas-based Halliburton is one of the largest oilfield services firms in the world, providing drilling services and equipment to major energy producers around the globe.

It had nearly 48,000 employees and operated in more than 70 countries at the end of last year, Reuters noted.

It is not clear at the time of writing whether the cyberattack is some form of ransomware attack, which has become so prevalent in recent years.

It should be remembered that in 2021, a major pipeline (Colonial Pipeline) in the United States was attacked by DarkSide, ransomware gang, causing widespread fuel shortages on the US east coast.

Indeed, so serious was the attack that the US government engaged emergency powers and US President Joe Biden received “personal briefings” about the cyberattack.

Colonial Pipeline’s CEO admitted his company paid a $4.4 million ransom as executives were unsure how badly its systems were breached or how long it would take to restore the pipeline.

The devastation after the attack caused DarkSide, a criminal gang located in either Russia or Eastern Europe, to publicly declare they were not carrying out the attack for political purposes, but rather were just seeking to make money.

London-based blockchain analytics firm Elliptic later identified the Bitcoin wallet used by DarkSide.

Critical infrastructure

The United States regards critical infrastructure as off limits, ever since US President Joe Biden raised the issue with Vladimir Putin in a June 2021 face-to-face meeting, before the Ukraine invasion in February 2022.

Biden and Putin had spent much of that face-to-face meeting talking about cybersecurity issues, with Biden bluntly warning Putin of ‘retaliation’ and an ‘aggressive response’ if Russia attacks a list of 16 ‘critical’ industries in America.

Then in July 2021 President Biden underscored the issue of cyberattacks, when he admitted they could cause a ‘real shooting war’ with a ‘major power’.

Ever since 2011 the United States said it reserved the right to retaliate with military force against a cyberattack from a hostile state.