On Wednesday, the city of Waynesboro reported that it likely fell victim to an attempted cyberattack and that its data had been published online toward the end of last week.
In January, City Manager Mike Hamp warned the city of a possible cyberattack on computer system .
“The city took immediate actions and measures to ensure the attack was removed from the city’s digital infrastructure and proactive security measures to help reduce the system to cyberattacks,” Hamp said.
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Last week, news spread on social media that the cyberattack was successful and around 350 gigabytes of data from the city was leaked online.
“The City of Waynesboro and the Police Department are working diligently with appropriate resources and other law enforcement agencies to accurately identify what occurred, assess the extent of the data breach, and take appropriate steps to respond to the cyberattack. As the investigation continues, the City of Waynesboro will make appropriate notifications, provide resources, and coordinate efforts to assist those individuals whose personal information may have been stolen during this cyberattack,” Hamp said.
Multiple social media posts have recently claimed that sensitive material from the Waynesboro Police Department, such as criminal investigations and personnel records, as well as business documents belonging to the city of Waynesboro are available on websites located on the dark web.
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The attack came in the form of ransomware, a form of malware designed to block access to a computer system until a ransom is paid. The attack has been attributed to a group called BianLian, which is also the name of an emerging ransomware strain that may have been used in the attack.
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In the summer of 2022, the use of BianLian malware increased drastically. This malware targets and encrypts files on all drives within computer systems, giving victims only 10 days to pay a ransom or risk having their data posted online .Fortunately, security software company Avast in January released a free decryptor intended to combat this virus once and for all.
Source of information: eu.newsleader.com
