It's been over a month since the City of Columbus announced it was hacked by cybercriminals.
The hacker group Rhysida claimed responsibility for the attack, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of private citizens' information being put on the dark web.
Last month, Mayor Andrew Ginther said the majority of the data stolen by the hackers was either corrupted or encrypted, meaning it was likely useless. Hours later, cybersecurity expert Connor Goodwolf found 400,000 people's private information was on the dark web. Goodwolf is a name he goes by for interviews and it is not his real name.
Last week, Goodwolf told 10TV he found that the Columbus police crime matrix is downloadable. That database includes witness, victim and suspect information from any police report in the last 10 years. It also shows undercover police reports. The city filed for the temporary restraining order against Goodwolf Thursday morning and it was granted later in the day.
On Monday, 10TV spoke with Ohio State University Professor Jesse Fox, who specializes in technology communication.
Fox said that when she first heard about the cyberattack, she was sad as a citizen and worried about how much information had been stolen.
Regarding Goodwolf, she said she understands why the city did not want to raise the alarm about the cyberattack.
“If that information isn’t known yet, then don’t do assurance about something that’s not there. The key message is only to speak to what you know but If you don’t know then don’t give assurance,” Fox said.
Fox said she believes Goodwolf played an important role in transparency for residents.
“Mr. Goodwolf is accurately framed as a whistleblower. He has tried to do his best to distribute information that we are not getting from the city government right now. He is fact-checking the government, which is an important right under the First Amendment,” said Fox.
After the temporary restraining order was granted, Ginther released a statement saying in part, "Since July, I have expressed how furious I am that the City of Columbus has been victimized by cybercriminals. City Attorney Klein's actions show there are consequences for anyone who downloads and distributes the City's stolen confidential data."
The city of Columbus is in charge of a lot of critical information, and that information is vulnerable because of its nature and how it is stored.
Fox said it's important for everyone who may be affected to protect their identity and credit. That includes taking advantage of Experian offered by the city, and monitoring your credit cards and assets.
Fox said that even if you don’t think your information is out there, you should be cautious.
“When we talk about data sold, we should not conflict that with not accessible. Someone could’ve bought that with explicit reason to make it accessible. They might just want to release it publicly,” she said. “Maybe what’s in this (the data breach) doesn’t seem that scary to you. But, then that could be linked. I have your name and information maybe I buy another data set and link that data to the other data set then I also have your social security number, and credit card numbers,” she added.