~ Roy Richardson consulted to crack hacked server and retrieve data.~
PHILIPSBURG: --- Minister of VROMI Egbert Jurendy Doran has maintained his stance on not divulging any information regarding the status of the government-owned company NV GEBE that was hacked with the Black Byte ransomware.
Doran said on Wednesday at the Council of Minister's press briefing that consumers of GEBE should pay their bills online since the company's main office is not open to the public. While the Minister has called on consumers to pay their bills, he did not say how these consumers would get their bills since the entire server of NV GEBE is down.
NV GEBE has been hacked with the black byte ransomware; sources say that the hackers are demanding millions be paid in bitcoin for the return of the company’s information. It should be noted that the company does not have any external backups of its data and no audits have been conducted in recent years.
NV GEBE has since hired the services of Roy Richardson, the owner of Aurora InfoTech, LLC which is operating out of Orlando Florida.
The Minister of VROMI admitted on Wednesday that he had a meeting with the Temporary Manager of NV GEBE along with the Minister of Finance Ardwell Irion and support staff and the company that is working on cracking the server to retrieve the company’s information.
Doran said he is skeptical when it comes to divulging information on the way forward because those that have infiltrated the company’s server could be watching the press briefing in order to obtain information on how NV GEBE is handling the matter and the way forward.
In the meantime, Doran also confirmed that two of the selected members of the management board did not sign the proposed contracts and that they are still in discussions with the Supervisory Board of Directors while the third candidate screening process is still ongoing.
NV GEBE managed to pay its staff for the month of March by instructing its bank to pay the employees the same salary they were paid during the month of February. Workers that worked overtime during the month were not paid the extra overtime money. The company promised its staff to adjust their salaries when their server issues are solved.
