US oilfield giant Halliburton said a cyber security incident that impacted its systems in August compromised the sensitive personal information of customers but the company is yet to determine the exact number of people affected by the incident.

Last month, Halliburton said it was dealing with significant IT disruption that resulted from a suspected cyber attack. The oilfield giant said it was investigating the incident and had engaged cyber security experts to determine the nature and scope of the incident.

The incident affected Halliburton’s Houston campus and some aspects of its global connectivity. Also, employees were asked not to connect to the company’s internal IT network, indicating that the company might have suffered a ransomware attack.

Last week, in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Halliburton said that the operational disruption was indeed caused by a cyber attack that involved a threat actor infiltrating its internal network.

To contain the impact of the cyber attack, Halliburton proactively took its systems offline and notified relevant law enforcement authorities about the incident.

“The Company’s ongoing investigation and response include restoration of its systems and assessment of materiality,” Halliburton said in its SEC filing. “The Company is communicating with its customers and other stakeholders. The Company is following its process-based safety standards for ongoing operations under the Halliburton Management System, and is working to identify any effects of the incident.”

In another SEC filing, the company said that its investigation has revealed that the sensitive personal information of individuals associated with it was accessed during the data security incident.

“The Company believes the unauthorised third party accessed and exfiltrated information from the Company’s systems.  The Company is evaluating the nature and scope of the information, and what notifications are required,” reads the new SEC filing.

“The Company has incurred, and may continue to incur, certain expenses related to its response to this incident. The Company believes that the incident has not had, and is not reasonably likely to have, a material impact on the Company’s financial condition or results of operations,” Halliburton added.

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