COLUMBUS, Ohio — The city of Columbus has been tight-lipped on what data was leaked from the cyberattack in July.
At one point, Mayor Andrew Ginther said the majority of the stolen data was “totally unusable.” Cybersecurity expert Connor Goodwolf was able to prove that the statement from the mayor was not true.
Goodwolf sounded the alarm on Wednesday about information from the Columbus police crime matrix database that is now on the dark web. The database houses information on every police report dating back 10 years and data on undercover officers.
Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #9 President Brian Steel said the officers and undercover officers are worried about their information being on the dark web.
“They don't go to work every day in the best situations. They are in some dark seedy elements, really dark seedy criminals. They do a job, a dangerous job and the last person they ever expected to let them down is their city, not taking basic steps to protect their data,” said Steel.
Steel said the Fraternal Order of Police has worked hard to be more transparent since 2020. He feels the lack of transparency from the city is undermining the trust they have fought hard to rebuild.
10TV asked Steel what the trust is like now between the police and the city.
“I can tell you right now the FOP is not going to forward any more information from the city to our members because of the lack of credibility. We were told a couple of weeks ago everything was fine, nothing was released. Basically, you are good,” said Steel.
Two class-action lawsuits have been filed against the city in the aftermath of the cyberattack.
On Thursday, a Franklin County judge granted a temporary restraining order against Goodwolf because of the information he was revealing about what city information is on the dark web.
City attorney Zach Klein said he filed the temporary restraining order against Goodwolf because it is his duty to protect public safety. The city said the actions of Goodwolf are an invasion of privacy, negligence and civil conversion.
The city is seeking at least $25,000 in damages. The total amount will be determined at a trial.