Halliburton suspends internal systems following a cyberattack

The massive oil drilling and fracking company Halliburton announced that, as a result of a cyberattack earlier this week, it has disabled several of its internal systems.

Halliburton claimed it became aware of unwanted access to its networks on Wednesday and responded by “proactively taking certain systems offline” in a brief statement that was sent to government regulators on Thursday. "Working to identify any effects of the incident," the business stated.

According to business papers, Halliburton is one of the biggest oil firms in the world, employing up to 48,000 people across several nations. 

"There are no indications that the incident is impacting energy services at this time and DOE is coordinating with interagency partners," stated Jeremy Ortiz, a spokesman for the US Department of Energy, in a statement. After a cyberattack, it is typical for businesses to shut down their systems in an effort to keep the hackers from accessing compromised systems or those of others.

This year, numerous businesses shut down their systems as a result of ransomware attacks, including the large healthcare provider Change Healthcare and the manufacturer of automotive software CDK. Beyond what the corporation had filed, Halliburton representative Victoria Ingalls declined to comment. 

The company's most recent full-year financial report states that Halliburton's revenue for 2023 was $23 billion, up 13% from the previous year. According to the company's papers, Jeff Miller, the CEO of Halliburton, received $19 million in total executive compensation in 2023.