Ransomware attacks are on the rise, hitting all kinds of services and systems. A recent news story involved a ransomware attack on a Florida police station that resulted in the loss of evidence related to a drug trafficking case. Specifically, U.S. prosecutors were forced to drop 11 cases involving six suspected drug dealers. The evidence related to these 11 cases could not be recovered after the ransomware attack that hit the Stuart Police Department in April 2019.
While police were able to recover some data from backups, some files were unrecoverable. Stuart Police Chief Mike Gerwan told WPTV that the lost files included photos and video footage. Gerwan also said that the cases they were forced to drop included charges of possession of meth and cocaine, drug trafficking, drug manufacturing and drug delivery, among others.
However, the Stuart Police Department ransomware attack was not the only one. In fact, it is the seventh such ransomware attack in a row. Ransomware attacks have wreaked havoc in the US over the past four years, and what happened in Stuart has happened elsewhere as other police departments have lost critical evidence or been forced to shut down operations . Here are some of the ransomware attacks that have hit police departments in the past:
- In January 2017, police in Cockrell Hill, Texas, revealed that they lost 8 years of valuable evidence after an Osiris ransomware attack.
- In May 2018, the police in Riverside, Ohio lost data related to cases that had been under investigation for 10 months, after a ransomware attack. However, this data was recovered a month later, and thus staff were better prepared so that additional files would not be lost.
- In June 2018, officers in Atlanta discovered that the city's police department lost nearly two years of evidence from police cars after a ransomware attack that took place in March 2018.
- In July 2019, police in Lawrenceville County, Georgia, lost records and fingerprints related to several cases after a ransomware incident. It remains unclear how much data was stolen from the police department, as it is estimated that data and evidence ranging from weeks to years were lost.
- In July 2019, a ransomware attack hit the laptops of police cars of the Georgia State Patrol, Georgia Capitol Police, and Georgia Motor Carrier Compliance Division. The laptops of the police cars and dash-cams were destroyed and were no longer able to record new video footage for more than a month.
- Finally, in December 2019, the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office in Florida lost emails and evidence after a ransomware attack, but the office recovered the damage thanks to backups.
