City of Jacksonville Beach says ransomware attack impacted about 50,000 people

The City of Jacksonville Beach in Florida said that the cyber security incident it suffered earlier this year compromised the sensitive personal information of almost 50,000 individuals.

 

On January 29, the City announced on its website that it started experiencing network security issues that impacted certain City functions. It immediately launched an internal investigation, with assistance from third party cyber security experts, to understand the nature and scope of the incident.

 

“We recently confirmed the issues are the result of a cybersecurity event. We are working to restore our systems and services as quickly as possible. As our investigation into this matter is ongoing, we are unable to provide further details at this time,” read the announcement.

 

The City also filed a data security incident notification with the Office of the Maine Attorney General. In its filing, it said its investigation revealed that “certain files in our systems were subject to unauthorised access and that information may have been taken from our network between January 22, 2024 through January 29, 2024.”

 

The compromised data included the names and other personal identifiers along with Social Security Numbers. The filing with the state regulator also revealed that at least 48,949 individuals were impacted by the data security incident.

 

“The confidentiality, privacy, and security of information within our care is among our highest priorities. Upon learning of the event, we have taken additional steps to implement enhanced security measures and better protect against similar incidents in the future. We are also notifying applicable regulators of the event,” it said.

While the City of Jacksonville Beach did not find any evidence of the compromised data being misused, the possibility for the same cannot be ruled out. It has urged all affected individuals to remain vigilant, review their credit reports and financial statements on a regular basis, and report suspicious transactions to relevant law enforcement authorities.

 

The City is also offering one year of complimentary credit monitoring and identity theft protection services through Equifax to all the individuals affected by the data security incident.

 

On February 5, the infamous LockBit ransomware group claimed responsibility for the cyber attack on the City and listed it as a victim on its data leak site.

 

 

The city of Pensacola in Florida also confirmed experiencing a cyber security incident that had affected the phone lines of a number of government departments. This, in return, had created delays in receiving service through the 311 Citizen Support system.

 

City officials confirmed that emergency phone numbers like 911 are working and can provide assistance to the residents of the city. Non-emergency numbers can also be used to contact the Pensacola Police Department and the city’s fire department.