Qilin Group Claims to Have Hacked into EPS, Downloading All the Data – They Threaten Publication

The information systems of Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) have not been working for several days now due to, as the company announced, “an unprecedented cyber attack of a crypto type”, and the Radio Slobodna Evropa (RSE) portal says that the Qilin hacking group is behind the attack.

The portal writes that the “Bezbedan Balkan” forum, which follows digital security, has reported that Qilin has taken responsibility for the attack and that it says that, unless EPS reaches an agreement with them, they will publish all the data they have obtained within 10 days.

– In addition to blocking the servers, we have stolen a huge part of the company’s private data. Private contracts, contracts with partners in the country and outside it, financial documents, loan agreements, reports, balances, a huge number of private email exchanges – the hacking group said.

The journalists of RSE have tried to check this information at EPS itself, the Ministry of Interior, the Prosecutor’s Office for High-Tech Crime, but they have received no response.

The National Center for the Prevention of Security Risks in ICT Systems (CERT) could not share the details of this incident with the public either.

RSE also writes that the “Bezbedan Balkan” forum, which gathers online security experts, has been warning the public, but also the competent institutions, for over a year of various errors and incidents which pertain to the digital protection of the EPS system.

During 2023, alleged email accounts, as well as email exchanges of EPS employees, contracts, bills, trade union messages, appeared on the black market, the forum said, and accounts of employees at Elektromreza Srbije were also being sold.

The portal also says that, in its attacks, Qilin uses ransomware to lock the data or parts of various information systems, and then blackmails the owners and demands huge sums for the “buyout” of those data.

According to various online sources, the group most often targets systems of critical infrastructure, such as energy, transport, healthcare, telecommunications.

Elektroprivreda Srbije ad Beograd

Elektroprivreda Srbije

EPS

Qilin

cyber attack against EPS

crypto cyber attack

Bezbedan Balkan

digital security

digital protection of EPS

ransomware