COLUMBUS, Ohio — Experts confirmed that the hacker group that claimed responsibility for the Columbus ransomware attack last month leaked some of the city's data on the dark web.
Rhysida claimed to have 6.5 terabytes of city data, enough to hold more than 42 million document pages. The group claimed to have access to surveillance video, building information and personal information of employees.
Nanda Harikumar with the cyber watchdog group Falcon Feeds told 10TV that the hacker group released three terabytes of data at 5:30 a.m. Thursday.
Harikumar added that the files made available for download on Thursday contained the personal information of some city employees.
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.
Rhysida demanded nearly $2 million in ransom and gave the city a deadline of five days.
The hackers claimed on Wednesday that they had published about 45% of the data. Harikumar said it was a fake claim because the links to the data were broken.
Ginther's office acknowledged the claim by the hacker group but would not comment further about possible negotiations.
Rhysida 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.
10TV reached out to the mayor’s office on Thursday for additional comment.