#TownExtorted- A small town is being extorted by a global ransomware gang

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The city of St. Mary's, Ontario, Canada, was hit by a ransomware attack that  locked employees from internal systems and encrypted data. 

 A small town of about 7,500 people seems to be the latest target of the infamous LockBit ransomware group. On July 22, a post on LockBit's dark website listed townofstmarys.com as a ransomware victim  and previewed  stolen and encrypted files. On a 

  phone call, St. Mary's Mayor Alstrasdi told The Verge that the city had deployed a team of experts to respond to the attack. 

 "Honestly, we're a little shocked," said Strathdy. "It feels bad to be targeted, but the experts we hired have identified  the threat  and taught us  how to respond. Police are interested in the case and are allocating resources. ... people are working here 24/7. Whatever they have so far. According to Strathdee, the Government of Canada's cybersecurity guidelines generally discourage ransom payments. However, the city said it  would follow the incident team's advice on how to get more involved. 

 screenshots shared on the LockBit site show local areas such as finance, health and safety, wastewater treatment, asset files, and public sector. Shows the file structure of the Windows operating system, including directories that correspond to municipal operations. Per LockBit`s standard operating methods, the town was given a deadline by which to pay to have their systems unlocked or else see the data published online.

Brett O'Reilly, Communications Manager for the City of St. Mary's, introduced Zavage with a press release issued by St. Mary's. According to the statement, important urban services such as transportation and water systems have not been affected by the incident, and the city is trying to unlock IT systems and restore backup data.  According to an analysis by 

 Recorded Future, the LockBit group alone had 50 ransomware incidents in June 2022, making it the most prolific global ransomware group. In fact, St. Mary's is the second small town  targeted by LockBit in  just over a week. On July 14, LockBit listed data from the town of Frederick, Colorado (population 15,000) as hacked. Municipal administration. Frederick's LockBit list is currently demanding a $ 200,000 ransom  to keep the data private. 

 Small communities are becoming the target of sophisticated global ransomware groups with extensive technical knowledge and resources. In March, the FBI's cyber division issued a notice to government agencies' private industry partners, stating that the ransomware attack "burdens local  governments and public services in the United States."

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