Cyber attack: 14 days on, PDD’s billing app, website yet to be restored fully

Two weeks after Power department’s data center suffered a major cyber attack, its website was yet to be restored fully even after passing of around 14 days, an official said.

The official said the ‘Bill Sahuliyet’ android app and its bill payment website was yet to be restored.

   

The official also said that it may take some more days for the bill payment app and website to be restored while full restoration of the system may take over a week.

“We have a parallel billing system. One system covers Srinagar district and rural towns, which is down. However another billing system which covers other areas is working,” said the official.

He said when it comes to internet driven applications the department has one system for departmental websites, some of which have been restored.

For consumers, he said, they have ‘Bill Sahuliyet’ app coupled with website which was still down, following the malware attack.

“It may take three to four days for online bill payment app and website to be restored while full restoration may take over a week,” the official said.

The official said the deep scanning of the servers was in progress and each server was being scanned for malware in isolation by the team of IT experts.

Managing Director, KPDCL, Aijaz Asad said full restoration may take over a week as IT team from department and WIPRO were working round-the-clock for full restoration.

“Our parallel billing system for over seven lakh consumers dependent is working. Some of our websites like KPDCL and Chief Engineer website has also been restored. Our bill payment app and website will also be restored in next few days. I can’t give the exact time when restoration will be completed but it may take over a week,” Asad said.

Meanwhile, many consumers are aghast with the department saying that online bill payment should be up on priority basis as it helps people to pay bills at ease without visiting banks amid COVID scare.

“Amid the COVID pandemic, online billing helps us in social distancing. This is the time when such services come as a savior but unfortunately it has been down for the last 15 days. The department should restore online billing facility on priority,” said Mushtaq Ahmed, a consumer from Hazratbal here.

The hacking of the PDD data center located at Bemina had taken place on morning of June 24, compromising the four servers of the data center mainly.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

20 − fourteen =