Oil titan Halliburton confirms data was stolen in cyberattack

The oil and gas giant Halliburton confirmed to regulators Tuesday that it believes data was stolen from its systems in a recent cyberattack. 

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Halliburton said an “unauthorized third party accessed and exfiltrated information from the Company’s systems.” The incident, which was first disclosed on August 21, “caused disruptions and limitation of access” to certain applications, hampering its operations and “corporate functions.” 

The company said the cyberattack is unlikely to have a “material impact” on its bottom line, although it has incurred expenses related to incident response and business disruptions. 

The company’s stock fell 3.8% in morning trading, and is now down more than 6% in the last week. 

With 49,000 employees and more than $23 billion in annual revenue, the Texas-based company is one of the world’s largest hydraulic fracturing — or fracking — operators, and it is one of a handful of oil and gas entities targeted by hackers in recent years.  

In June, G7 leaders pledged to strengthen the cybersecurity of “the global supply chain of key technologies” supporting the electricity, oil and natural gas sector — which is “heavily targeted by adversarial countries and criminals.”