Georgia’s Largest County Is Still Struggling With January’s Cyber Attack; New Threats Launched From the LockBit Gang

• Fulton County-Georgia's biggest County-is still dealing with the aftermath of the January cyberattack. Half of the phone lines and some online systems are still down.
• The County has already missed the previous deadline to pay the ransom; believing the group has been nabbed. But it resurfaced on the dark web and launched fresh threats to the officials.

Fulton County in Georgia, which was attacked last month by a hacker group, is still struggling with the aftermath. The attack was confirmed on Jan 30, 2024, and was initiated by Lockbit- an infamous ransomware gang that has been in the news quite often attacking major organizations across the world and completely crippling their ability to operate.

Even in this case, the attack was so severe that all official phone lines were shut. The government could not access many online systems including vehicle and marriage registrations, severely inconveniencing the citizens.

As per their usual style of attack, the gang threatened to leak all confidential data they had collected from the County unless the ransom was paid on time.

The content of the stolen data is mostly unknown except for two facts- it contains sensitive information about the residents and it contains some records related to the County's case against former president Donald Trump.

Will The County Have To Pay Ransom?

The deadline for this ransom to be paid was last Thursday. But two weeks before that, a group investigation by major law enforcement agencies from different parts of the world claimed to have disrupted the Lockbit operation.

A message was posted on the group's official website, claiming that it is now under the control of authorities after which two people from the gang were arrested overseas.

However, it looks like the danger isn't averted, at least not yet. Some members of the ransomware gang surfaced on the dark web again and launched new threats to Fulton County, asking them to pay the ransom. Although their old deadline has passed, it looks like no stolen data has been leaked online yet.

We are not aware of any data having been released today so far. That does not mean the threat is over by any means. And they could release whatever data they have at any time - today, tomorrow, or sometime in the future.Robb Pitts, Fulton County Commission Chairman

They have not paid any ransom yet and we don't know if they plan to pay now that the threat has been renewed. Neither Pitts nor the spokesperson for Fulton County were available for any comment.

Read More: Ransomware attack disturbs global financial stability, ICBC unit in crosshairs

What Is The Condition Right Now?

Although most of the offices have resumed operations, half of the phone lines and online systems are still down. For example, the water bill system is up but the property tax system is not working. The government is doing its best to restore all the services as soon as possible.

While the case against Trump has suffered delays and obstacles post the attack, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said that the case documents are still safe. Once their system is back up, they can pick up from where they left off.

That's because they kept the documents in a separate and highly safe space where it's almost impossible to access them without authorization.

This statement certainly contradicts what Lockbit said about having the case documents but some industry experts have called the claims bogus - an attempt to extort more from the County. Some even say it's LockBit's strategy to exaggerate the extent of the attack so they can extort more.

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