City officials and the Secret Service have confirmed that police surveillance cameras (CCTV) in Washington, D.C. have been targeted by hackers. According to reports, 70 percent of CCTV surveillance devices have been infected with ransomware.
According to the Washington Post:
City officials said police cameras were infected with ransomware between Jan. 12 and Jan. 15. The cyberattack affected 123 of the 187 video recording devices that make up the network, a closed-circuit television system for public spaces across the city.
Secret Service spokesman Brian Ebert said the public's safety was not at risk.
Archana Vemulapalli, the city's Chief Technology Officer, said no ransom was paid and that they plan to resolve the issue by taking the devices offline. Then they will have to remove the infected operating system by resetting each camera.
Vemulapalli said the investigation is ongoing and that it is not believed that other computer networks in the city have been compromised.
The fact that the hackers used ransomware to infect the city's CCTVs suggests that their goal was money, not access to the security system. Ransomware, as you know, usually locks down the infected system, rendering it unusable, until a ransom is paid by the victim.
Officials report that two different forms of ransomware have been discovered so far.
The police department insists there was “no significant impact” from the infection, but details about the incident are limited at this time. They claim the hack will not affect any criminal investigations.
We should also mention that the investigations have not yet led to any suspects.
