South Staffordshire Water “has been the target of a criminal cyber attack”, the company has confirmed.

In a statement, it stressed it was “still supplying safe water to all of our Cambridge Water and South Staffs Water customers”.

“This is thanks to the robust systems and controls over water supply and quality we have in place at all times as well as the quick work of our teams to respond to this incident and implement the additional measures we have put in place on a precautionary basis.”

The statement was released after a ransomware group known as Cl0p claimed to have hacked a different water company’s networks.

Using its darknet site as part of a bungled cyber-extortion effort, the group posted what appeared to be stolen identification documents.

It is not clear how the criminals managed to misidentify the victim company.

Alongside releasing files, the group criticised the company’s security and suggested that other hackers could break into the network and cause significant damage.

Cl0p typically encrypts the files on victims’ computer networks to make the IT systems unusable unless those victims make an extortion payment, often stretching into the millions of dollars.

In this instance, Cl0p claims to have decided not to encrypt the company’s files. Instead it is demanding an extortion payment to prevent the release of the stolen data, and to explain how it managed to break in to the network.

The group claims to be able to access the company’s SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) systems which are the software used to manage industrial processes, such as those at water treatment facilities.

In another unverified claim which is disputed by South Staffs Water, the extortionists state: “It would be easy to change chemical composition for their water but it is important to note we are not interested in causing harm to people.”

Sophisticated systems

Most water companies have sophisticated systems in place to ensure the quality of their water, including several checks and balances which are resilient against individual subsystem failures.

Ransomware groups often over-state their access into victims’ networks for the sake of extortion, expecting that their…