Just days
after New Orleans revealed it was victimized by a ransomware attack, smaller
municipalities in Florida and California reported being hit.Galt, Calif.
municipal systems and the St. Lucie County, Fla. Sheriff’s Department were each
knocked offline.Galt was
attacked on December 16 and was partially successful in encrypting some city
systems. In a statement
the city said when its systems began to fail the IT department turned off
portions of the network to limit damage. At this time the full extent of the damage
is not known but email and the phone system have been impacted. However, 911 is
still functioning.A ransom has
been demanded, but the amount requested is not known.The St.
Lucie County Sheriff’s Department reported on December 17 that it was forced to
shutter most of its network after it was struck with ransomware. In a notice
posted to the department’s Facebook
page officials said that while 911 was operating normally several other computer-based
tasked are offline.This
includes:
There is no ETA on when the systems will be back up and running.
- All Sheriff’s Office emails.
- Posting of daily arrest affidavits.
- Updating of jail booking photos.
- Fingerprinting
- Background checks/criminal histories
- Distribution of case reports, traffic crash reports.
