Cyberattack disrupts 911 emergency services in California
Incident blamed on 'relatively new' gang of cybercriminals.
A cyberattack attributed to the ransomware gang DragonForce has disrupted emergency dispatch services in Manhattan Beach, Culver City, Hermosa Beach and El Segundo, as well as Hawthorne and Gardena.
Dr. Darren Williams, CEO and Founder of Blackfog, a cybersecurity platform, DragonForce is a "relatively new" cybercrime gang.
"Healthcare is a favorite target (of DragonForce), with previous attacks including the Heart of Texas Behavioral Health Network who they claimed to have stolen 55.87GB of data from," said Williams.
The ransomware gang has also attacked Yakult Australia and allegedly stole 95GB of data from the company's Australian and New Zealand IT systems. The gang has also claimed to have stolen more than 400GB of data from Coca-Cola Singapore.
"There is little doubt that the real incentive is sensitive data theft," said Williams about the latest 911 attack.
"Data is the most highly valued prize for attackers; long after normal service is resumed, the data can be used for extortion and sale across the dark web for lucrative sums," he added.
DargonForce also operates a dark web data leak site called DarkLeaks, and while not much is known about the gang, some researchers speculate that it may be related to a Malaysian hacktivist group that goes by the same name.
This isn't the first time California has experienced a 911 outage related to a cyberattack. In June 2023, cybercriminals disrupted dispatching services in the city of Hayward.
More broadly, the state has faced a number of network security incidents, including a ransomware attack on Bay Area city Oakley in February 2024, and a ransomware attack that disrupted hospitals in the state.
In May this year, a cyberattack on the California School Association compromised the data of nearly 55,000 individuals.