Ransomware Gang Leaked 600GB of Data Stolen From Oakland City Servers

The ransomware gang responsible for the February attack on the City of Oakland, California, released a second data dump. The dump consisted of nearly 600 gigabytes of files that contained stolen municipal data, exposing critical information on thousands of employees in the city.

Play, the threat group responsible for the ransomware attack, posted the second leak on their site, following up with their first data dump at the beginning of March, with Oakland’s data sizing up to 10 gigabytes.

The leak included thousands of former and current city employees and a massive 12 years of city roster. It also had several police misconduct allegations and scanned bank accounts.

Oakland City Hall statement reads, “As a further community update, we recently became aware that the same unauthorized third party claiming responsibility for the ransomware incident has posted additional data allegedly taken from our systems during the incident in February to a website not searchable via the traditional Internet.”

Since the attack in February, Oakland has recovered some of the services disrupted during the breach, including its 311 line, which serves as a government contracting portal and online permit application system.

Nevertheless, the attack still affects the City significantly, with the threat group frequently leaking stolen data. In accordance with this second data dump, a union representing Oakland Police Department officers had filed a claim of nearly $25,000 for every police officer whose data had been leaked in the breach.

The association also released a statement accusing city leaders, including Mayor Sheng Thao and City administrator G. Harold Duffey of refusing to answer and hiding the extent of the ransomware attack.

“Oakland city leaders talk about accountability, yet there has been zero accountability and a deafening silence for the safety and financial security of the city’s valued employees. This city is truly broken when city employees learn more about releasing their confidential information from the media than their employer, whose incompetence and sloppy security allows these data breaches to occur.” said Barry Donelan, the association’s president.

Oakland city officials are still investigating this issue and dealing with the clashes between the Officer’s Union and the city leaders. A similar clash between Washington D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department and the city officials was due to the 2021 data breach incident.

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