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posted by Fnord666 on Monday January 30 2017, @08:33AM   Printer-friendly
from the turn-a-blind-eye dept.

Over a hundred surveillance camera storage devices operated by the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia were hacked just days ahead of the Inauguration. Ransomware was found on some of the devices and officials said the extortion effort "was localized":

Hackers infected 70 percent of storage devices that record data from D.C. police surveillance cameras eight days before President Trump's inauguration, forcing major citywide reinstallation efforts, according to the police and the city's technology office. City officials said ransomware left police cameras unable to record between Jan. 12 and Jan. 15. The cyberattack affected 123 of 187 network video recorders in a closed-circuit TV system for public spaces across the city, the officials said late Friday.

Brian Ebert, a Secret Service official, said the safety of the public or protectees was never jeopardized. Archana Vemulapalli, the city's Chief Technology Officer, said the city paid no ransom and resolved the problem by taking the devices offline, removing all software and restarting the system at each site.

Also at The Hill.


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  • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Monday January 30 2017, @04:27PM

    by tangomargarine (667) on Monday January 30 2017, @04:27PM (#460690)

    Although...how does one "remove all software" from something then restart it? Obviously somebody doesn't know what they're talking about here. Either they wiped the devices then powercycled them, at which point the hardware does nothing; or they reset them to factory settings, probably leaving the vulnerability open; or they overwrote the software with a fixed version.

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