Researcher sued for sharing data stolen by ransomware with media
The City of Columbus, Ohio, has filed a lawsuit against security researcher David Leroy Ross, aka Connor Goodwolf, accusing him of illegally downloading and disseminating data stolen from the City's IT network and leaked by the Rhysida ransomware gang.
Columbus, the capital and most populous (2,140,000) city in Ohio, suffered a ransomware attack on July 18, 2024, which caused various service outages and unavailability of email and IT connectivity between public agencies.
At the end of July, the City's administration announced that no systems had been encrypted, but they were looking into the possibility that sensitive data might have been stolen in the attack.
On the same day, Rhysida ransomware claimed responsibility for the attack, alleging they stole 6.5 TB of databases, including employee credentials, server dumps, city video camera feeds, and other sensitive information.
On August 8, after failing to extort the City, the threat actors published 45% of stolen data comprising 260,000 files (3.1 TB), exposing much of what they previously claimed to be holding.
