Texas electric cooperatives purportedly breached by Qilin

Cybernews reports that the Qilin ransomware gang has admitted compromising Texas' San Bernard Electric Cooperative and Karnes Electric Cooperative.

San Bernard Electric Cooperative, which caters to nearly 28,000 households across eight Texas counties, was claimed to have had its first incident reports, annual budget reports, rate-case expense reports, insurance files, invoices, labor and equipment expense reports, and right-of-way easement contracts stolen from its systems.

On the other hand, Karnes Electric Cooperative, which serves 23,000 households across a dozen counties, was purported to have had board directors' information, financial documents, and organization members' details pilfered as a result of the ransomware intrusion.

Neither data leak has been verified as legitimate. However, such data exposure could have significant implications for both Texas electric cooperatives, according to Cybernews researchers.

"Exposed financial data could reveal pricing strategies, cause loss of trust, or competitive disadvantage. Revealed incidents could indicate service quality issues," said researchers, who also emphasized potential social engineering and identity theft intrusions against board directors.