Cleveland City Hall to Reopen to Public Thursday Following Ransomware Attack

Cleveland Scene ^ | 6/21/24

[EBH]

Ten days after a cybersecurity threat shut down dozens of routine services and threw a wrench into daily city business, Cleveland City Hall is planning—finally—to reopen Thursday at noon.

On June 10, the city announced a "cyber attack" had hindered regular operations, leading to a sudden shut down, which meant hundreds of employees working remote and residents shut out from the building. Days later, the attack was categorized as ransomware, meaning hackers had penetrated an open door in the city's digital infrastructure and potentially held files or servers hostage.

It's unclear if Clevelanders' personal data was comprised, as is possible in a ransomware attack. Moreover, the city did not disclose whether the hackers were identified by cybersecurity officials. A report this year from cybersecurity company Sophos suggested the average payment to hackers was $2.2 million.

[yelostar]

A “cyber attack” like this - in a facility where public and legal information is recorded and kept - isn’t about getting the personal data of individuals. It’s about removing inconvenient information from public records, including courts and law enforcement, also referred to as scrubbing.

A great deal of intentional and planned malfeasance is carried out in events that appear to be acts of random criminality. A 10-day siege could indicate some serious scrubbing. All conveniently blamed on an intelligence apparatus hackers.