Ransomware group Interlock today took credit for a July cyber attack on the city of St. Paul, Minnesota. The attack prompted governor Tim Walz to activate the national guard in response. And to top that off, the city didn’t pay up.
Commenting on this news is Rebecca Moody, Head of Data Research at Comparitech:
“While the City of St. Paul should be applauded for not meeting its hackers’ ransom demands, it was inevitable that a claim from the responsible group would quickly appear. Interlock wasted no time posting the city to its site and alleges that 43 GB has been stolen. This is made up of 66,460 files across nearly 7,900 folders with the proof pack containing various IDs and documents.”
“Now, the City of St. Paul needs to respond to confirm what data has potentially been impacted and who has been affected. In the meantime, we highly recommend residents and employees remain on high alert for any potential phishing campaigns (e.g. emails, texts, or calls reporting to be from St. Paul) and monitor their accounts for any suspicious activity.”
“As our report for July 2025 has found, ransomware attacks on government entities are of particular concern as hackers remain focused on causing mass disruption via these organizations, with critical infrastructure also being targeted. St. Paul is a prime example of this as numerous areas have been affected, including public works and payments for water services.”
I am a big believer that you should not pay these threat actors as it only encourages them to keep doing this. The new problem is that the data that Interlock stole is now out there. And that will have far reaching effects on those people who are associated with that data.
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This entry was posted on August 11, 2025 at 3:05 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Comparitech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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The City Of St. Paul, Minnesota Did Not Pay Interlock After Getting Pwned
Ransomware group Interlock today took credit for a July cyber attack on the city of St. Paul, Minnesota. The attack prompted governor Tim Walz to activate the national guard in response. And to top that off, the city didn’t pay up.
Commenting on this news is Rebecca Moody, Head of Data Research at Comparitech:
“While the City of St. Paul should be applauded for not meeting its hackers’ ransom demands, it was inevitable that a claim from the responsible group would quickly appear. Interlock wasted no time posting the city to its site and alleges that 43 GB has been stolen. This is made up of 66,460 files across nearly 7,900 folders with the proof pack containing various IDs and documents.”
“Now, the City of St. Paul needs to respond to confirm what data has potentially been impacted and who has been affected. In the meantime, we highly recommend residents and employees remain on high alert for any potential phishing campaigns (e.g. emails, texts, or calls reporting to be from St. Paul) and monitor their accounts for any suspicious activity.”
“As our report for July 2025 has found, ransomware attacks on government entities are of particular concern as hackers remain focused on causing mass disruption via these organizations, with critical infrastructure also being targeted. St. Paul is a prime example of this as numerous areas have been affected, including public works and payments for water services.”
I am a big believer that you should not pay these threat actors as it only encourages them to keep doing this. The new problem is that the data that Interlock stole is now out there. And that will have far reaching effects on those people who are associated with that data.
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This entry was posted on August 11, 2025 at 3:05 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Comparitech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.