Georgia county ransomware attack claimed by ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware

Georgia's Forsyth County was claimed to be compromised by the ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware operation in an attack initially disclosed by the county in June, reports The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future. Over 250,000 Forsyth County have been warned that their files, including Social Security numbers and driver's license numbers, have been stolen from the county's servers although there has been no sign at the time that exfiltrated data has been sold on the dark web, said county officials. However, ALPHV/BlackCat warned this week that it would leak 350GB of stolen data, which it claims to include SSNs, insurance details, financial reports, business deals, and loan applications, among others. While Forsyth County Department of Communications Director Russell Brown confirmed a ransomware attack against the county's network earlier this year that has since been addressed, he did not comment on the involvement of ALPHV/BlackCat. Forsyth County has been noted by Emsisoft ransomware expert Brett Callow to be the 53rd local U.S. government impacted by a ransomware attack so far this year.