(TNS) – Medusa, the hacker group behind the ransomware attack on the Tarrant Appraisal District, has published data obtained in the attack on the dark web, TAD announced Tuesday.
“TAD is aware that the criminal group Medusa is illegally posting files it claims to have obtained from the TAD network,” Chief Assessor Joe Don Bobbitt said in response to questions from the Star-Telegram. said in a statement. “While TAD restricts the collection of sensitive data in most situations, we worked closely with leading cybersecurity experts to carefully review the data and all individuals affected.”
Bobbitt said the 300 people whose information was breached were notified by email.
Content on the dark web cannot be accessed by search engines and requires a special browser.
Document published by Medusa. Some of them are star telegramview tax exception applications and employee files.
Some tax exemption forms require a driver's license, social security number, or federal tax ID number. The homestead exemption form asks for a copy of the owner's driver's license.
Bhavani Thuraigam, a computer science professor specializing in cybersecurity at UT Dallas, said Social Security numbers and driver's licenses are the most damaging information that can be exposed online.
Medusa said it obtained and released 217 gigabytes of data from the appraisal district.
Medusa set the ransom at $700,000. The appraisal district did not respond to questions about whether it had negotiated with the group.
On April 8th, Medusa's blog listed the ransom for the appraisal district as $100,000 and displayed a countdown timer until the deadline.
“TAD's IT team, in collaboration with cybersecurity experts, continues to monitor the status of the Medusa breach site and will provide additional updates if there are further developments,” Bobbitt concluded in a statement.
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