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| Washington DC Police Department under a cyber attack |
According to the New York Times, after hackers began spreading their data online, the Washington, DC Police Department (MPD) confirmed that its servers had been compromised.
The relevant authority issued a statement confirming that it was aware of the unauthorized access to the server and stated that it was cooperating with the FBI to investigate the incident.
The hacked data appears to provide details of the arrest and the people involved.
The attack is believed to be the work of the Babuq group known for ransomware attacks.
According to the report, the organization released a screenshot of 250GB of stolen data from a major law enforcement agency in Washington, DC.
One of the files appears to relate to the arrests that took place in the aftermath of the Capitol riots in January.
The team warned that if the police did not contact them within three days, the information of the police informants would be passed on to the criminal gang.
According to the New York Times, the Washington Police Department was known as the Metropolitan Police Department after independent groups launched attacks on departments in Maine, Pennsylvania and California. He is the third police officer to be targeted in the past two months.
It is believed that outdated software and systems used by many law enforcement agencies make them more vulnerable to such attacks.
The targeting of police stations is also believed to be part of a larger trend of attacks on government agencies. This year alone, 26 agencies were attacked for ransom.
The Justice Department reported that the average ransom demand rose to more than $ 100,000 as attacks escalated during the pandemic.
The Biden administration is working to improve cybersecurity defense capabilities in the United States and is expected to issue an executive order soon.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, the Department of Justice recently set up a task force to defend itself against ransomware attacks.
"In terms of ransomware attacks and related extortion incidents, 2020 is the worst year ever," said Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the task force. "If we don't stop them, the problem will get more serious."