San Bernardino County paid $1.1 million ransom to hacker that caused "network disruption" within Sheriff's Department
San Bernardino County officials on Friday announced that they paid more than a million dollars to a hacker that caused a network disruption within the county's sheriff's department.
The hacker is said to have uploaded some form of ransomware into San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department's information technology system, according to a statement from the city.
While the specifics of the malware attack have not been disclosed, the county has been quiet about the incident for weeks, according to the San Bernardino Sun, with officials instead referring to the hack as a "network disruption" until they acknowledged the hack.
After careful consideration, county officials opted to pay the $1.1 million ransom to the unknown hacker in order to regain control of their system. They say that they paid $511,852 — less than half of that sum — thanks to an insurance policy.
"The County had prepared for the possibility of such an incident by securing appropriate insurance coverage," said David Wert, a spokesperson for San Bernardino County. "After negotiating with the responsible party, the insurance carrier and the County agreed to a payment to restore the system's full functionality and secure any data involved in the breach. Insurance covers most of the payment."
Sheriff Shannon Dicus told the San Bernardino Sun that the attack did not impact public safety, but rather how deputies were able to conduct their usual business.
An investigation remains ongoing into whether any information was stolen by the malware, as well as if they can track the attack to the hacker.
"As part of its ongoing investigation, the Sheriff's Department is conducting a forensic examination to achieve a full understanding of the incident, the findings of which will benefit all public agencies looking to avoid a similar occurrence," Wert said, also noting that no other county systems were affected by the hack.
