14 DAY TRIAL // The website of JEA – a Jacksonville, Florida-based, not-for-profit community-owned utility company that serves almost one million consumers – has been hit by a distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attack.
On Tuesday, the company notified customers that the attack, which disrupted its website and its automatic phone system, started on February 17.
"There was absolutely no penetration into our system. The electric, water, sewer, financial and customer systems have all been protected,” JEA CEO Paul McElroy told the Jacksonville Daily Record.
“I wanted to publicly apologize for this discomfort and difficulty it has created for our customers who have been trying to reach us through jea.com.”
An external firm has been called in to investigate the origin of the attack. Evidence suggests that the attack originated in the United States.
In my humble opinion, this appears to be a classic case of corporate sabotage. These days, it’s not uncommon for companies to turn to DDOS attacks to disrupt the activities of the competition.