Hacker steals information from the City of Edcouch and demands ransom

• A hacker stole thousands of confidential files from the city’s computer network which included information from the water department and city finances.
• The hacker threatens to erase all the information if a ransom payment of $40,000 in BTC is not made in time.

The City of Edcouch suffered a data breach after a hacker gained access to the city’s network and stole all the city’s information. The City Hall’s telephone services were also down due to the hack.

What information was compromised?

• The compromised information includes the personal data of over 3000 residents.
• The hacker also stole information from the water department and city finances.

The big picture

The hacker stole thousands of confidential files from the city’s computer network and left a ransom note behind. In the ransom note, the hacker threatened to erase all the information if a ransom payment of $40,000 in BTC is not paid.

“On Monday morning, when we came in, we found a ransom note where our system had been hacked and basically the ransom note gave us some instructions to follow if we wanted to save our data,” Victor De La Cruz, City Manager said, a local news outlet reported.

La Cruz stated that the attack comes after the recent arrest of the former city manager for allegedly tampering with water meters and government records.

“In recent investigations we have been investigating issues with water meters and that sort of thing. There’s actually been a couple of arrests from that investigation. We’re looking at the possibility or it’s so obvious or coincidental that a week later we get hacked,” La Cruz added.

What are the recovery steps taken?

• The city information stored in its network has been constantly backed up, so the city officials are slowly recovering all the information from the backup.
• City officials are also working closely with the IT department and the FBI to implement a better antivirus and firewall software.