Pennsylvania Attorney General Confirms Ransomware Behind Weeks-Long Outage

According to the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, ransomware was behind a three-weeks-long outage that disrupted email, phones and websites across the Commonwealth. The incident was first disclosed on 11 August, with some restoration of the website by 14 August, and by 18 August staff were gradually gaining access to their email accounts, though phone lines remained down for another week.

On 29 August, Attorney General Sunday confirmed that file-encrypting ransomware had been used, but the office did not provide information on the group responsible, stating no payment had been made. The office noted that the interruption was caused by an outsider seeking to force a payment to restore operations and that most staff had regained access while full operations continued to be restored. SecurityWeek has not seen any known ransomware group claiming the attack.