Southern Water takes the fifth over alleged $750K Black Basta ransom offer

Southern Water neither confirms nor denies offering Black Basta a $750,000 ransom payment following its ransomware attack in 2024.

The Register asked the utility company - which oversees water and wastewater services across the South of England and Isle of Wight - about the alleged ransom offer after it was included in last week's leaked internal Black Basta chats.

A Southern Water spokesperson dodged the question: "As soon as we became aware, over a year ago, of an illegal intrusion affecting our IT systems (not affecting our operations or services to customers), we informed all relevant bodies, including NCSC and Defra. We and our advisers worked closely with NCSC throughout the incident."

The leaked chats indicate Black Basta demanded $3.5 million from Southern Water following the January 2024 attack. According to the chat logs, the demands were initially ignored by the utility company before being shot down entirely.

"Hello ...