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Cobb County government target of cyberattack
A hacking group on the dark web says it plans to release hundreds of thousands of photos and documents containing sensitive, personal information from the Cobb County government.
COBB COUNTY, Ga. - A Russian-speaking hacking group said it would release hundreds of thousands of documents containing sensitive, personal information from the Cobb County government’s servers by Saturday.
Cybersecurity experts explained the importance of acting now to protect your data and money.
What we know:
Hacking group Qilin announced this week they had photos of autopsies and social security cards that would be released online if Cobb County did not pay the ransom, and the county confirmed it would not pay the cyber criminals.
"They have 150 gigabytes of data, that’s a lot of data, a lot of information," said Rick Hudson, the Chief Technology Officer for Critical Path Security.
Hudson has investigated the hack and said Qilin hacked into the Cobb County government servers in March and announced it is now holding 400,000 files for ransom.
The deadline: Saturday.
What do the hackers have?
Dig deeper:
Husdon said 16 images were published already to show the gravity of the hack, including at least three autopsy photos, driver’s licenses and social security cards. Other county documents were released—belonging to both private citizens, those in jail and government employees.
Cobb County said it notified 10 people in April who were impacted. Hudson said: any person who has interacted with the Cobb County government in the last several years might be impacted. He advises freezing credit, changing passwords and implementing two factor authentication on all accounts.
What they're saying:
The county said it will not negotiate with hackers and released a statement reading, in part, "We refuse to support or enable criminal enterprises, even when faced with difficult choices. While we understand this may offer limited comfort to those affected, standing firm sends a clear message: bad actors will not profit from this crime."
"Qilin is definitely on the aggressive side, so they’re definitely going to release the documents. Establishing those extra precautions early will defend you better," said Hudson.
What's next:
The county is urging its residents to stay alert and check their bank accounts for any unusual activity.
The county is also offering anyone who is impacted credit monitoring and identity theft protection.
The Source: FOX 5 Atlanta reporter Alexa Liacko interviewed Rick Hudson, the Chief Technology Officer for Critical Path Security, for the information included in this article.