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:
- 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.
There is no ETA on when the systems will be back up and running.
