COLUMBUS, Ohio — The hacker group holding the city's data for ransom now claims they've published about 45% of it and is threatening to release more if the city doesn't pay the ransom by Thursday morning. However, Mayor Andrew Ginther's office says there is no evidence that data has been published.
Hackers claim to have uploaded access to surveillance video, building information and personal information of employees on the dark web.
One hacker watchdog group says the hackers posted online claiming they have 6.5 terabytes of data, enough to hold more than 42 million document pages.
The website claims the deadline for the city to pay a ransom of 30 bitcoin, or nearly $2 million, is at 3:30 a.m. on Thursday.
Officials for the city of Columbus admitted they unplugged the city services from the internet to protect more data from being taken.
The city has been crippled since at least mid-July when technology experts realized the city's infrastructure was under attack.
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said in an earlier interview he made the decision to disconnect the city from all external communications on July 18.
Since then, the hacker group Rhysida has claimed responsibility for the ransomware attack.
“I believe that there should be some negotiations happening,” said Nanda Harikumar, of the watchdog group, Falcon Feeds.
The group claims they have made public nearly half of the city's stolen data.
“Today they claim that 45% of the data has been leaked, but it is a fake claim because I tried to access that data, the portal was not working. The link was not working so they are doing some negotiations. It could be threat tactics that they are playing with the city of Columbus,” Harikumar said.
Ginther's office confirms they are aware of the claims that data has been published and added the links are broken, but would not comment any further about possible negotiations.
Several Columbus police officers have said their bank account information has been compromised and there have been attempts at taking out bank loans in their names. The Fraternal Order of Police said a dozen officers say money was taken from their bank accounts. The city has offered credit monitoring to all current employees.
The group extended the original ransom deadline by 20 hours, and Harikumar said that tactic could be to threaten the government in hopes of getting others to pay.
He said they may also have another motivation.
“Threat actors love to create drama. That is also one other reason why this could happen. They create a lot of drama, they crave a lot of attention,” Harikumar said.
Ginther's office said that as of 4 p.m. Wednesday, they have no evidence that any of the city's data has been published.