The Camden County Police Department experienced a ransomware attack that has been locking many criminal investigative files and day-to-day internal administration abilities, several law enforcement officials said. NBC10 investigative reporter Claudia Vargas has the details.
The Camden County Police Department experienced a ransomware attack that has been locking many criminal investigative files and day-to-day internal administration abilities, several law enforcement officials said.
Investigators said the attack started in the middle of March and technicians continue working to try to get all systems back up and running.
A police spokesman confirmed the cyber intrusion but stressed the ransomware attack did not impact 911 call systems or other public safety responses.
CCPD spokesman Dan Keashen said the malware first hit the department about three weeks ago.
“The agency is operational and did not experience any disruption or outages in its public safety response services to the Camden City Community,” Keashen said.
The FBI, NJ State Homeland Security’s office and the New Jersey attorney general’s office were all notified of the incident and are assisting in the investigation, several officials said.
Sources familiar with the matter said the hackers were demanding hundreds of thousands of dollars to unlock the files as a result of the malware. Keashen declined to comment on what group might be behind the incident or how much money was being demanded.
Sources briefed on the matter said electronic police files were among those locked and inaccessible — delaying some investigations. One official said about 80-85 percent of the files have now been reopened. Keashen said the department “is working with information technology and law enforcement professionals to ensure there is no remaining threat in our network.”
An epidemic of ransomware attacks has prompted Biden administration officials to deem them a national security threat. But what exactly is “ransomware” and how do these cyberattacks work?
One law enforcement source said investigators were looking into whether the incident began after a police department employee opened a personal email that was malware on a police department device.
Two sources said the Camden County Prosecutor’s office has also been hit by a hacking incident impacting some files. It is unclear how significant of a cyberattack the office suffered in the last couple of…
Oakland police officers have filed a claim against the city for damages suffered due to the ransomware attack on the city in February, officials with the police union said Monday.
The claim was filed Thursday by attorneys for the Oakland Police Officers’ Association, which represents more than 700 officers.
The union is asking for monetary compensation as well as credit monitoring services, bank monitoring services, credit restoration services and identity theft insurance.
“Having to file this legal claim is disappointing,” said police union President Barry Donelan in a statement. “Oakland employees trusted the city with their personal and confidential data, and the city failed them by releasing it through a combination of incompetence and negligence.” City officials, including the mayor’s office, said last week that they would meet with the police union following a threat of litigation.
As of Monday, there hasn’t been a meeting, but union officials said they are optimistic a meeting will occur.
A spokesperson for Mayor Sheng Thao on Monday referred a request for comment to City Attorney Barbara Parker’s office.
Parker’s office did not have a comment Monday, saying the office just received the claim and has not had time to review it. The city was closed Friday for Cesar Chavez Day.
The ransomware attackers released private, personal information of police officers, Donelan said. Reportedly, other employees’ private information was released, too.
The attack started Feb. 8. The attackers crippled the city’s information technology systems and demanded ransom to free the systems.
Attorneys for the police union said the city was repeatedly warned in the past and recently of “significant deficiencies in the security of its information technology systems,” according to the claim filed Thursday.
The claim was filed by the police union’s attorneys Rains, Lucia, Stern, St. Phalle and Silver and is a precondition for filing a lawsuit against the city, attorney Rockne Lucia Jr. said.
“We are currently evaluating all of our options and will make a determination on how to protect the interests of the members of the OPOA in the next few weeks,” Lucia said by email….
Authorities in Germany this week seized Internet servers that powered FlyHosting, a dark web offering that catered to cybercriminals operating DDoS-for-hire services, KrebsOnSecurity has learned. FlyHosting first advertised on cybercrime forums in November 2022, saying it was a Germany-based hosting firm that was open for business to anyone looking for a reliable place to host malware, botnet controllers, or DDoS-for-hire infrastructure.
A seizure notice left on the FlyHosting domains.
A statement released today by the German Federal Criminal Police Office says they served eight search warrants on March 30, and identified five individuals aged 16-24 suspected of operating “an internet service” since mid-2021. The German authorities did not name the suspects or the Internet service in question.
“Previously unknown perpetrators used the Internet service provided by the suspects in particular for so-called ‘DDoS attacks’, i.e. the simultaneous sending of a large number of data packets via the Internet for the purpose of disrupting other data processing systems,” the statement reads.
News of a raid on FlyHosting first surfaced Thursday in a Telegram chat channel that is frequented by people interested or involved in the DDoS-for-hire industry, where a user by the name Dstatcc broke the news to Fly Hosting customers:
“So Flyhosting made a ‘migration’ with it[s] systems to new rooms of the police ;),” the warning read. “Police says: They support ddos attacks, C&C/C2 and stresser a bit too much. We expect the police will take a deeper look into the files, payment logs and IP’s. If you had a server from them and they could find ‘bad things’ connected with you (payed with private paypal) you may ask a lawyer.”
An ad for FlyHosting posted by the the user “bnt” on the now-defunct cybercrime forum BreachForums. Image: Ke-la.com.
The German authorities said that as a result of the DDoS attacks facilitated by the defendants, the websites of various companies as well as those of the Hesse police have been overloaded in several cases since mid-2021, “so that they could only be operated to a limited extent or no longer at times.”
The statement says police…