The Northwest Territories Power Corporation has confirmed it is a victim of a cyberattack.
If residents visited NTPC’s website on Thursday afternoon, they were met by a ransomware message.
Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts files preventing a person or company from accessing them. The attacker asks to be paid to restore access to the files and threatens to destroy them otherwise.
As of Friday morning, the message is no longer displayed but NTPC’s website is still offline.
“To contain and neutralize the impact of this incident, NTPC shut down most of its information technology services, affecting activity in most of the corporation’s business areas,” it said in a news release.
It adds that it has reached out to the territorial and federal governments, as well as the Canadian Cybersecurity Agency.
“An investigation is underway to assess the impact of the attack and identify any systems that may have been accessed,” says NTPC. “No timetable has been set for completion of the investigation.”
NTPC is a crown corporation owned by the Government of the Northwest Territories.
