This week, DataBreaches.net reported on a new dedicated leak site and threat actors who had hit Clover Park School District in Washington.
The same threat actors, whose name is not even clear (are they PayOrGrief or Grief_List or…) have listed three other victims on their site who presumably did not pay their ransom demands. One of them is the municipality of Porto Sant’Elpidio in Italy. Marco A. De Felice reports about that incident on Suspect File, noting that “About 900 MB for a total of about 1000 files have been dumped.” According to the threat actors, the total amount of stolen material is about 8 GB.
De Felice describes the data dump as mostly administrative files, but also files containing sensitive information on residents. In skimming the data dump, DataBreaches.net did see one report on a vehicle accident that identified the car, the owner, the driver, and that there were injuries, etc. How many other files may also contain personal information is not known to DataBreaches.net at this time.
There is nothing currently posted on the municipality’s web site about any attack, and no press releases or any news coverage that DataBreaches.net can find other than Suspect File’s coverage. De Felice tried to find out what the government has done in response to the attack:
Before the publication of this article SuspectFile tried to get in touch with the Mayor via e-mail, asking to answer some questions. We asked, among other things, whether or not the Administration had complied with the provisions contained in the European Union regulation on the processing of personal data and privacy ( GDPR ) and if it had therefore already informed the Guarantor and the bodies of Competent police.
In the e-mail we sent, a copy was made of the President of the City Council, the Councilor for the budget / transparent Administration and the Local Police Command of the Municipality. We have not received any responses at the moment.
As I understand it, the GDPR at Article 33 requires that, in the event of a personal data breach, data controllers should notify the appropriate supervisory authority without undue delay and, where feasible, not later than 72 hours after having become aware of it. If the threat actors really waited 21 days before dumping data, then the municipality may have known about this breach for weeks. What, if anything, have they done in response?
There is much we do not yet know — about this threat actor/group — and the impact of the incident on the municipality. Check SuspectFile daily and follow @amvinfe on Twitter to stay abreast of news.