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Energy giant Shell said it has been a victim of a cyberattack linked to a file transfer software that the company uses to transfer large data files. The breach has exposed personal data, and data of its subsidiaries. It has notified some of its stakeholders.
“The ongoing investigation has shown that an unauthorized party gained access to various files during a limited window of time,” Shell said in a statement.
The company did not mention how many individuals or stakeholders were impacted, but said it’s in contact with the impacted individuals and stakeholders, and is working to address possible risks.
The data breach connected to California-based Accellion, the software company that Shell uses, is not the first incident to be reported in the past few months. In January, the Dutch company suffered a security breach after which a US supermarket firm and Australia’s corporate regulator were revealed as victims of the attack.
Shell said there is no evidence its core IT systems were hit as the file transfer service is isolated from Shell’s digital infrastructure.
“Cyber security and personal data privacy are important for Shell and we work continuously to improve our information risk management practices,” Shell said.
“We will continue to monitor our IT systems and improve our security. We regret the concern and inconvenience this may cause affected parties.”
