A hacker collective is requesting a ransom of over $2 million in exchange for the data they were able to obtain from Columbus. There is a group named Rhysida that claims to have 6.5 gigabytes of municipal data.
To demonstrate that they own the sensitive data for the city, the hacker gang has made data screen shots available. It displays dispatch logs, security camera footage, and tables with personnel data they say they have.
“Rhysidal, as we call them, is a notorious group and they have been active since last year in May. They have around 100 plus victims listed,” Nanda Harikumar stated.
Harikumar is employed by Falcon Feeds, a watchdog organization that gathers information from these kinds of danger actors to safeguard its customers.
“From the samples the group has released, it is hard to identify the data that has been leaked from employees’ sites, but they claim the employees that are working for the government, that could be a big worry because there could be identifying information,” Harikumar stated.
According to Harikumar, this gang has a history of attacking US government entities. It seems that the information of Columbus police officers has been most vulnerable thus far.
According to officers, people are receiving information about attempted bank loan applications made in their names and are being notified that their private data is available on the dark web.
“There are a lot of people who want to access this data, so after a few days, I think they have five more days of time, if the ransom is not paid for, they will publish the data,” Harikumar stated.
“When you get a ransomware demand, they give you a deadline to pay and if you don’t pay, then they start publishing this information on all the dark websites, on public websites and what it does is other cyber criminals access to your information and use it in ways that they probably shouldn’t,” former FBI agent Bret Hood stated.
Hood thinks the city made the right decision in calling the FBI right away. To determine precisely what data has been stolen, they can explore the city’s infrastructure and attempt to apprehend the offenders. According to him, these inquiries typically take a long time.
Read Also: Shocking Charges: Denver Professor from Regis University Faces Murder Allegations
“The difficulty in these cases is sometimes you need the cooperation of foreign governments because if they have a server overseas, you have to access that legally.
That can take time. If you expect a quick turnaround in this case, that might not happen. Rest assured, the FBI will not stop working on this case. It may take 2-3 years for resolution,” Hood stated.
A large number of Columbus police officers have canceled their existing bank accounts and requested that the city secure their new accounts by paper check rather than direct transfer. They’ve been informed that the city will only pay them by direct deposit and won’t do that.
In a statement issued on Thursday night, the mayor’s office said that all city, Franklin County Municipal Court Judge, and Franklin County Municipal Court Clerk employees who receive municipal salaries are eligible for Experian credit monitoring.
Instructions for enrolling in credit monitoring will be sent directly to employees.It’s unclear if workers who independently purchased credit monitoring will receive compensation.
