North American propane supplier Superior Plus announced on Tuesday that it is suffering from a ransomware attack.
In an official release, a billion-dollar propane seller confirmed that it sustained a ransomware incident on December 12 that impacted its computer systems.
“Upon learning of the incident, Superior took steps to secure its systems and mitigate the impact to the Corporation’s data and operations. Independent cybersecurity experts have been retained to assist the Corporation in dealing with the matter in accordance with industry best practices,” the company said.
As a precautionary measure, the company has disabled its operations and applications and also clarified that there was no evidence of any misuse or breach of customer or corporate data. However, they did not reveal which ransomware group was behind the assault or which systems were impacted.
“Superior is committed to data safety, is taking the matter very seriously, and asks its customers and partners for their patience as it seeks to remediate the situation,” the release added.
Superior, which supplies more than 780,000 customers in the US and Canada, is a leading distributor of propane, distillates, and related products and services. The company that is servicing over 780,000 customer locations in the U.S. and Canada, last year, brought in more than $1.8 billion in revenue and has about 4,300 employees.
Superior is the latest victim to join the bandwagon of ransomware attacks after the infamous assault on Colonial Pipeline earlier this year. The firm paid $5 million in ransom to get its systems back online after the attack forced it to disable its operations and freeze IT systems to isolate the infection.
The continuous attacks on the organizations in critical infrastructure sectors are severely impacting the flow of basic resources to the citizens, forcing the U.S. House Committee to introduce multiple security bills to protect the country’s critical infrastructure.
In May 2021, the U.S. government passed seven bipartisan security bills to strengthen defense capabilities, enhance pipeline security, and defend supply-chain attacks targeting U.S. organizations and critical infrastructure. The bills also helped state and local governments in shielding their systems and providing mitigation strategies against critical flaws.