Halliburton says hackers removed data in August cyberattack

(Reuters) — Oilfield services company Halliburton said Tuesday that an unauthorized third party had accessed and removed data from its systems, providing details regarding the cyberattack in August first reported by Reuters.

The company said it is evaluating the nature and scope of information that was removed but added that the incident is not likely to have a material impact.

Halliburton declined to comment in response to Reuters’ requests for additional information on the nature of the data removed and expenses incurred due to the cyber incident.

It also did not immediately confirm whether it had been contacted by the hackers.

U.S energy companies have suffered multiple cyberattacks, including ransomware attacks, in recent years. In 2021, Colonial Pipeline was forced to pay $4.4 million in ransom as its executives were not sure about the severity of the breach.

The incident had caused disruptions and limited access to portions of its business applications, the Houston-based Halliburton said.

The company activated its cybersecurity response plan and launched an investigation internally with the support of external advisers to assess and remediate the unauthorized activity once it became aware of the issue, it said.