Halliburton

Founded in 1919, Halliburton is one of the service companies providing technology and services to the oil and gas industry. In 2014, the company operates in more than 80 countries and employs over 60 thousand people working around the world.

The company's divisions provide services and technological solutions throughout the period of field operation: from determining the location of hydrocarbons, modeling the field - to drilling, assessing reservoir parameters, construction, completion of wells and optimizing production.

Business in Russia

2022: Transfer of business in Russia to local managers

In September 2022, amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Halliburton said it had pulled out of the Russian market by selling the business to local management.

History

2024: IT systems shut down due to ransomware virus attack

On August 21, 2024, one of the largest oilfield services companies in the United States, Halliburton, was subjected to a massive cyber attack. Due to the introduction of the ransomware virus, it was necessary to disable some IT systems, and employees are prohibited from connecting to the network.

Halliburton, which provides services in more than 70 countries around the world, issued an incident notice to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The document says that cybercriminals gained access to some of the company's computer systems. In order to minimize possible damage, these services had to be turned off.

𝓲

Bloomberg

As of August 23, 2024, no hacker group claimed responsibility for the attack. Halliburton appealed to law enforcement agencies, and also involved third-party experts in the investigation of the attack. Specialists are working to "identify any consequences of the incident." However, the nature of the cyber attack is unclear.

We are aware of the problem affecting certain systems of the company, and are working hard to identify the causes of what happened and assess the potential impact. Specialists activated a predetermined response plan, Halliburton officials said.

About what ransom the attackers demanded, nothing is reported. It is not clear whether any confidential data or personal information was stolen as a result of the attack. It is only noted that the cyber attack affected the work of Halliburton headquarters in Houston. A spokesman for the US Department of Energy noted that "the exact nature of the incident is unknown." It is emphasized that there are no signs that any energy services have been affected. Jackie Singh, a cybersecurity researcher, says that the fact that Halliburton's IT systems are disabled indicates a potentially serious ransomware attack.^[1]

Notes