Georgia city claimed to be attacked by BlackByte ransomware gang

Responsibility for the cyberattack against the City of Augusta, Georgia, which resulted in the disruption of certain city computer systems since May 21, has been admitted by the BlackByte ransomware-as-a-service operation, The Register reports. While Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson said that an investigation into whether any of the city's data has been stolen in the incident is underway, BlackByte has claimed to exfiltrate 10GB of sensitive data from the city following the ransomware attack while demanding a $50 million ransom payment for the stolen data. BlackByte's statements have not yet been verified and ransomware groups have been putting out false claims of attacks, with The Philadelphia Inquirer most recently dismissing data purportedly stolen from them by the Cuba ransomware gang. Emsisoft records showed that ransomware incidents have already impacted at least 33 local governments across the U.S., at least 20 of which had their data compromised.