COLUMBUS, Ohio — The city of Columbus is now offering its employees credit monitoring after a ransomware attack in July affected city agencies and attempted to disrupt its IT infrastructure.
RELATED: Sources: Bank accounts for 2 Columbus police officers hacked as city deals with ransomware attack
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther's office confirmed earlier this week that a foreign cyber threat actor attempted to disrupt the city's IT infrastructure to deploy ransomware and solicit a ransom payment from the city.
Ginther's office said that on July 18, the city's department of technology found evidence of an abnormality in its system. Once the threat was identified, the department severed the internet connection to reduce the threat to the city's systems.
10TV’s Lacey Crisp reported on Thursday that a hacker group called Rhysida is demanding nearly $2 million ransom for the 6.5 terabytes of data it allegedly retrieved from the city.
RELATED: Hacker group claims responsibility for city cyberattack, asks for nearly $2 million in ransom
The hacker group released screen captures of data to prove they have the city's sensitive data. It shows security camera footage and dispatching information, along with tables of employee data they claim to have.
On Thursday evening, the city announced it is offering Experian credit monitoring to all City of Columbus, Franklin County Municipal Court Judges and Franklin County Municipal Court Clerk employees as a precautionary action while they continue to investigate the incident.
City employees or technology users who observe unusual IT activity, or who believe a city email account has been compromised, are asked to report it to abuse@columbus.gov.
The city also encourages employees to use different passwords for their different personal accounts.