Dallas pays millions for ransomware expenses after May attack – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth
The Dallas City Council Wednesday agreed to pay $8.5 million for expenses related to the ransomware attack first revealed in May.
Officials have declined to say publicly if any ransom is included in the expenses so far. And, it is unclear just how many residents may be impacted by leaked city data.
Officials did confirm Wednesday that 27,000 city employees, retirees and their dependents have received notices that their social security and medical information was accessed.
Dallas Firefighters Association President Jim McDade said he received a letter for himself but also one for his son.
“My son is 10. Now I have to worry for the next however long that something is going to be done with his information,” McDade said.
Southern Methodist University Cyber Security Expert Mitch Thornton said that worry is justified.
“I do see his concern and agree with it,” Thornton said.
Cybercriminals may demand ransom from targets like the city of Dallas to restore hacked operations but they may also profit by financial fraud with the data they steal.
“They can use it themselves to try and open credit lines. Or typically they would post this information or the availability of it on the dark web and then sell it to other criminals,” Thornton said.
In May, the city struggled to get crucial operations like emergency dispatch working again. City courts and many other functions were crippled.
Details were left unclear about the $8.5 million approved Wednesday except for a general description of expenses for software, hardware, forensics experts and two years of credit monitoring for people now getting those letters.
There may be more people connected to the leaked city-data.
“Or even, general residents of the city. What message should we be sharing with them,” Councilmember Jaynie Schultz said.
The one official providing answers in public Wednesday was Assistant City Manager John Fortune.
“So I would just say, this is still an ongoing investigation. We’re still evaluating the magnitude of those individuals who might have been impacted,” Fortune said.
The council went to a closed-door executive session to discuss additional issues regarding the…
