January 19, 2024
Last week, a ransomware incident affected some software applications and systems in a portion of Veolia North America’s Municipal Water division. Our IT and Security Incident Response Teams were quickly mobilized, and we are actively cooperating with law enforcement and other third parties to investigate and address this incident.
In response to this incident, we implemented defensive measures, including taking the targeted back-end systems and servers offline until they could be restored. As a result, some customers experienced delays when using our online bill payment systems. Those systems are working normally again. Any payments made during this event have been applied, and customer accounts should reflect the most updated information. Customers will not be penalized for late payments or charged interest on their bills due to this service interruption.
This incident seems to have been confined to our internal back-end systems at Veolia North America, and there is no evidence to suggest it affected our water or wastewater treatment operations.
In the course of our investigation, we have identified a limited number of individuals whose personal information was potentially impacted. Those individuals who may have been impacted by this incident will be contacted directly by Veolia and provided additional information and assistance. Your trust is a top priority for Veolia, and we deeply regret any inconvenience this may cause.
We are partnering with a leading third-party forensics firm to conduct a thorough investigation of the incident and to examine additional measures we can take to help prevent incidents of this kind in the future. We are putting our full resources behind these efforts.
Be assured that we place a top priority on protecting the security of our customers’ personal information. Please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns.