"Personal Information of 37,000 People Exposed in Whitehall Ransomware Data Breach"
The City of Whitehall was the victim of a ransomware attack earlier this year that has potentially exposed the personal information of about 37,000 people, including city employees and members of the public. Recently the city announced that it had mailed letters informing people affected by the breach that their information may have been exposed during the attack. On May 27, Whitehall detected that a ransomware infection began encrypting files stored on the city's networks. When the city became aware of the breach, it contained the threat by disabling and isolating all unauthorized access to the network, restored all encrypted data, and immediately commenced an investigation. Megan Meyer, a spokesperson for the city, stated that the reason for the months-long delay between the May incident and the city's December notification to the public was that it "was necessary to conduct a thorough investigation of the breach, and to review potentially accessed data." As of last week, the city reported it was unaware of any reports of identity fraud or improper use of any of the hacked information. The city has established a program to give affected individuals access to a free year of identity theft monitoring services.