Ransomware hits police vehicle laptops in Georgia

A ransomware was capable of neutralizing laptops of the Georgia Department of Public Safety (DPS). These laptops were installed in police vehicles.

In practice, ransomware does not attack directly laptops of vehicles. Initially, it infects the back-end of the segment itself, resulting in computers disconnect and lose access to critical police information.

The ransomware was installed last Friday. His discovery was made when a police officer saw a strange message on screen of the car. The spread of the virus to all systems it was fast.

Obviously the immediate solution was to automatically shut down all police systems, but that had an impact on three police stations. services of Georgia: Georgia State Patrol, Georgia Capitol Police and Georgia Motor Carrier Compliance Division.

Officers treated this disruption as any other interruption, either for maintenance or due to a technical problem. So, when they need any information they use car radios or work phones to communicate.

Unfortunately, however, this is not the only case of assault received by the Georgian state. Already last month, the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) and the Lawrenceville Police Service were also hit by ransomware.

When asked by her CTO Barracuda NetworksFleming Shi said it is not only a problem for the state of Georgia but such attacks can happen anywhere in the US. Other states are often affected and will continue to bail out and pay the ransom they are asked for.

Shi also said it was a national problem because America had not taken the necessary citizen protection measures.

Consequently, Georgia's DSP officials will have to find out if the ransomware attack has affected the archives police and active investigations, which is usually done by ransomware infections. It is not uncommon for police departments to either lose ten months' investigations or worse. As in the police station in Cockrell Hill, Texas they lost almost eight years investigations, evidence and data due to ransomware.

If the DSP did not provide backups security, the results of the searches were lost forever.