BEL Addresses System Hack

The Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) has suffered a cyber-attack from hackers who stole confidential data and leaked it from a website. The company says that, in May, it suffered a cyber-attack on its IT network but has since stepped-up cyber security measures. BEL notes in a release that, “Importantly, we were successful in preventing the hackers from encrypting our data, locking us out of our network, and demanding a ransom. At the time, we had also reported that there were no indications of any data leaks.” However, yesterday, the company discovered that confidential information was leaked from a website operated by the hacker suspected of launching the cyber-attacks. The leaked data and information consisted of confidential transactional information about Employees and Customers and other network configuration information stored on our file servers and individual computers assigned to Employees. According to BEL, there was no leaked data from its critical IT software and database management systems that contain customer and financial datasets, nor from its operations technology network that monitors and controls its grid. The company informs the public that it is monitoring and investigating the full extent of the data leak and reporting the incident to the appropriate authorities. BEL added that it continues to deploy preventative measures to stave off any further and future cyberattacks and protect the data and information used to provide essential services to our customers and the public. The measures included deploying new preventive and detection systems to identify and remove suspicious actors and programs from its IT infrastructure and restricting access to its critical IT systems.