Clearview Resources loses C$1.5 million to email account takeover

Clearview Resources Ltd., a Calgary based natural gas and light oil producer, disclosed that fraudsters compromised one of its internal email accounts and used it to redirect a company payment to an account they controlled.

The company first announced a cybersecurity incident on December 6, 2023. In a follow up release on January 12, 2024 it put the loss at $1.5 million and said the funds had been diverted to a third party account. Clearview reports in Canadian dollars, and Rigzone put the equivalent at about US$1.11 million.

Clearview said that on learning of the incident it alerted its technology provider, which temporarily disabled certain information technology functions. Once the company confirmed the cybersecurity risk had been removed, those functions were restored. Clearview said the incident had no material impact on its operations.

The company said it had engaged third party experts and was working with law enforcement to investigate and attempt to recover the money, while cautioning that "these efforts may not result in the return of all or some of the stolen funds." No recovery had been reported as of the January update.