Cockrell Hill Police Department Takes Massive Hit
Cockrell Hill Police Department, located in Cockrell Hill, Texas, has recently lost eight years of police evidence after a ransomware attack. According to Bleeping Computer, the attack was discovered on December 12, 2016.
The ransomware variant used to encrypt the police department’s data is not being disclosed. The police department had the option to either pay the hackers $4,000 to obtain the decryption keys to their data, or wipe their hard drives and start over. They chose not to pay.
The some of the data lost includes footage from body cameras, dash cameras, and photos. Cockrell Hill officials stated,
“It is […] unknown how many videos or photographs that could have assisted newer cases will not be available, although the number of affected prosecutions should remain relatively small.”
2016 Ransomware Attacks
To see a full list of ransomware attacks that have taken place in 2016, you can click here. We have also created a ransomware map, see below, of the ransomware attacks that have taken place in the U.S. The map includes both 2016 and 2017 attacks.
