According to an email forwarded by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to all Florida County Commissioners, Maze Ransomware was the malware which struck the digital infrastructure maintained by the city of Pensacola, FL on December 7th, 2019
And sources from the Pensacola News Journal confirm that the said malware was the same which targeted a private security firm named Allied Universal.
The email content is available for public viewing on Escambia County Commissioner Jeff Bergosh’s blog.
Meanwhile, City spokesperson Kaycee Lagarde has confirmed the news and said that more details will be provided to the media after a thorough investigation takes place in this matter.
Florida Officials say that the hackers were demanding $1 Million to decrypt the locked-up files for access. However, a word is out that the authorities will be recovering the data from back-up and so are disinterested in bowing down to the demands of hackers.
Last month i.e. in November 2019 a source from Allied Universal confirmed a cyber attack on the digital assets of the California based company and hinted that the hackers infiltrated the network to spread ransomware which was not only capable of encrypting files but is also capable of stealing data. And the source added that the hackers were demanding 300 BTC to decrypt files on the network.
When the IT staff of Allied Universal failed to pay heed to their demands, it’s reported that the cybercriminals published over 700 MB data from Allied on dark-web to make quick money. The success rate of this activity is yet to be known.
How the officials of the city of Pensacola, Fl will deal with the situation that will be known soon?
