The largest city in Ohio was the target of data theft lately; however, the data that was taken was unusable, and the mayor said that no personal information about city employees was posted online.
Mayor of Columbus Andrew Ginther announced on Tuesday that the city has never received a ransom request, while still confirming the data theft. He claimed that the city discovered on Friday that the majority of the information that the ransomware organization Rhysida had released to the dark web was encrypted or tampered with.
At first, the group said it had 6.5 gigabytes of stolen material that it had tried and failed to auction off, including log-in credentials, emergency service files, and access to city cameras. However, the mayor claimed that the group’s screenshots that were uploaded to the dark web were “the most compelling asset” it possessed and that the city’s forensics showed it had significantly less material than that.
Following the incident, employees of the city, such as the police and fire departments, claimed that their personal data had been exposed. However, the mayor stated that although personal information about employees was not posted on the dark web, it was briefly accessible during the attack.
Although data may be viewed for a while on the city payroll system, no proof of file downloads or uploads to the dark web has been found, according to city officials. Nor is there any proof that publicly available data was compromised.
According to the mayor, in order to stop another hack, the city is currently concentrating on enhancing digital security and tech training.
“I think when this is all said and done, we will have spent several million dollars dealing with the attack,” the mayor said.
Cyberattacks have affected Ohio’s other major cities as well. In June, a ransomware attack forced the city of Cleveland to shut down most of its services, including city hall. Similarly, in 2019, Akron was forced to suspend some governmental functions due to a cyberattack.
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