Security News > 2023 > May > BlackByte ransomware crew lists city of Augusta after cyber 'incident'

BlackByte ransomware crew has claimed Augusta, Georgia, as its latest victim, following what the US city's mayor has, so far, only called a cyber "Incident."

In a Wednesday statement about the "Network outage" posted on the city's website, Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson said the "Technical difficulties" - which disrupted some of the city's computer systems - started on Sunday, May 21.

By Thursday FOX54 reported that the incident was a ransomware intrusion and the extortion gang had demanded the city pay $50 million.

"Several city officials" met with FBI agents about the cyber incident, according to the news outlet.

BlackByte, a ransomware-as-a-service gang that has compromised at least three critical infrastructure sectors in the US - government facilities, financial, and food and agriculture - listed the city on its data leak site and claimed to have stolen 10GB of "Sensitive data," according to a screenshot posted by Emsisoft Threat Analyst Brett Callow.

Still, Augusta "Has had a cyber incident, and a ransomware operation has claimed responsibility for that incident. So, yeah, it probably was a ransomware incident," Callow told The Register.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/05/26/blackbyte_augusta_malware/