Allegedly exfiltrated US energy firms’ data up for sale

Major U.S. electric utilities American Electric, Duke Energy Florida, and Tampa Electric Company had nearly 139 GB of engineering data purportedly pilfered following a cyberattack against Florida-based engineering firm Pickett and Associates peddled for 6.5 bitcoin, or nearly $585,000, The Register reports.

Allegedly part of the stolen data trove were 892 files, including over 800 classified raw LiDAR point cloud files, high-resolution orthophotos, complete transmission line and substation coverage, large vegetation feature files, MicroStation design files, and other documents from active projects, according to a post of the threat actor, who also claimed to sell German solar energy firm Enerparc AG's internal database, on Daily Dark Web. While Pickett USA has not commented on the supposed breach, Duke Energy has begun investigating the cybercriminal's assertions.

"With threats evolving every day, Duke Energy's highly skilled cyber security team works diligently to protect our businesses, systems, and information technology assets and responds quickly if a cyber incident occurs," said a Duke Energy spokesperson.