A city in California has issued a warning to its residents this week, revealing that hackers had gained unauthorized access to their government systems for an extended period. Victorville, a city of approximately 135,000 residents located two hours northeast of Los Angeles, recently sent out notifications to individuals, alerting them to the breach. The intrusion occurred from August 12 to September 26.
The city authorities disclosed that a thorough review of the compromised files revealed that personal data had been accessed, including names, and potentially, sensitive information such as Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, state identification card numbers, medical records, and health insurance policy details. In response to this incident, Victorville is extending a year of identity protection services to affected individuals.
While specific details regarding the breach were not provided by city officials, it is noteworthy that on September 25, they posted on Facebook about ongoing issues affecting their phone and website systems. The outages had disrupted services like online bill payments and form submissions, but the city assured residents that late fees and utility shutoffs would not be imposed during the system downtime. The authorities encouraged residents to make in-person payments if possible.
On October 3, Victorville managed to restore phone and website services, although web-based systems were still not fully operational. Unfortunately, no further updates regarding the situation have been provided by city officials.
On Tuesday, the NoEscape ransomware gang declared the city as one of its victims, asserting that they had exfiltrated 200GB of data from government systems. Victorville, located in San Bernardino County, had previously dealt with a ransomware attack in April.
This latest attack on Victorville is part of a concerning trend of cyberattacks targeting cities throughout California this year. Oakland, San Francisco, El Cerrito, Modesto, and Hayward have all faced debilitating ransomware attacks that disrupted government services for extended periods, causing various inconveniences for local residents.
The NoEscape ransomware gang, which emerged in May, has been responsible for a series of high-profile attacks on prominent institutions. Recently, the group targeted the organization tasked with managing the lake and river systems along the U.S.-Canada border. They have also claimed responsibility for attacks on Germany’s bar association, Hawaiʻi Community College, Australian companies, a Belgian hospital, U.S. manufacturing companies, and a Dutch manufacturing company.
This wave of cyberattacks underscores the critical need for enhanced cybersecurity measures and vigilance at all levels of government and industry to safeguard sensitive data and infrastructure from malicious actors.
CyberSec84 | Cybersecurity news. 
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