On Monday, officials from the Town of Summerville, South Carolina, revealed that there was likely theft of sensitive data after a ransomware attack last Friday.
Officials launched an investigation immediately after discovering the attack, but had not determined what data was accessed by the hackers, according a Monday social media post. The South Carolina Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity Task Force, led by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, which included SLED Computer Crimes, FBI and the South Carolina National Guard, is assisting in the investigation.
In a press release on Friday disclosing the ransomware attack, the small South Carolina town, 25 miles northwest of Charleston and home to roughly 50,000 people, claimed there was “no evidence to suggest that any data or sensitive documents were compromised.”
“While there is still much to uncover, we are diligently working to determine what data may have been accessed. Our commitment is to keep the community informed every step of the way,” Christopher Makowski, Summerville’s public information officer, told StateScoop in an emailed statement.
Ransomware attacks on local municipalities, which can cause prolonged disruptions for small towns that often have limited resources to quickly restore their systems, are becoming more frequent.
In May, the National Cyber Director published a report on the cybersecurity posture of the United States, noting that “ransomware groups have built a business model around targeting schools, hospitals, small businesses, and many others ill-equipped to defend themselves.”
Last week, Jefferson County, Kentucky, and Columbus, Ohio, both dealt with cybersecurity incidents that disabled city and county services and forced several government offices to close.
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