California metropolis investigating knowledge theft after ransomware group’s claims

The California metropolis of El Cerrito is investigating the potential theft of knowledge after a ransomware group added town’s authorities to its checklist of victims on Wednesday.

The LockBit gang added 15 victims to its leak web site on Wednesday together with El Cerrito, which is house to greater than 25,000 residents and is about 10 minutes north of Oakland.

In an announcement to Recorded Future Information, assistant to the Metropolis Supervisor Will Provost stated town’s programs are absolutely operational and they don’t seem to be locked out of any gadgets or knowledge.

“We’re conscious that cybercriminals have alleged to have taken knowledge from sure Metropolis of El Cerrito programs and is threatening to submit the knowledge to an internet site they preserve exterior the confines of conventional web,” Provost stated.

“We’re working with third-party cybersecurity specialists and legislation enforcement on this challenge and are actively monitoring the unauthorized actor’s claims to research their validity. If we decide any delicate info was affected, we are going to notify these people in accordance with relevant legal guidelines.”

The LockBit ransomware gang was concerned within the April ransomware assault on Oakland that precipitated important injury to town’s operations for weeks. Whereas the Play ransomware group initially claimed the assault, LockBit later added town to its leak web site as properly.

Troves of delicate metropolis knowledge in regards to the police division, elected officers and extra have been leaked by each teams. The state was compelled to ship within the Nationwide Guard to help within the response.

The assault on El Cerrito could be considered one of a number of on California cities this 12 months. Alongside the assault on Oakland, town of Modesto handled its personal ransomware assault that was claimed by the Snatch ransomware group.

The town of Hayward was compelled to declare a state of emergency final month after a ransomware assault encrypted virtually the entire metropolis’s features exterior of important companies like police and healthcare.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Division and San Francisco’s Bay Space Fast Transit system each handled their very own ransomware assaults in 2023. The state has additionally seen ransomware assaults on a serious professional bono legislation agency and, in latest days, a California-based firm that controls 16 hospitals throughout the nation.