Hackers allege the Los Angeles Housing Authority was attacked with ransomware

Shortly after the LockBit ransomware group took ownership of a hack on the organization, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, or HACLA, said it is looking into a cybersecurity incident.

On December 31, LockBit’s dark web leak site added HACLA, which offers more than 19,000 low-income families in Los Angeles affordable housing. According to the listing, which TechCrunch has access to, LockBit stole 15 terabytes of data from the housing authority.

The personal information of persons who requested housing help from the city, as well as information from the payroll, human resources, and accounting files of the city agency, as shown by screenshots posted by the cybercriminals.

HACLA spokesman Courtney Gladney told TechCrunch that the agency is dealing with “a cyber event” that has caused “disruption” to its systems but declined to provide further details.

The representative stated, “We are carefully working with third-party specialists to determine the source of this disruption, confirm its impact on our systems, and to quickly and securely restore our environment to full performance.” “As we seek to remedy this problem, we remain committed to delivering quality work.”

Although HACLA’s website appears to be up and running at the time of publication, neither its website nor its social media accounts have made any official mention of the cyber incident.

The alleged attack by LockBit on HACLA is the second significant cyberattack on a Los Angeles local agency in the past few months. The Vice Society ransomware organization attacked the second-largest school district in the United States, the Los Angeles Unified School District, in September. Following the attack, the gang released hundreds of terabytes of data, including passport information, Social Security numbers, health data, and student psychiatric evaluations.

Meanwhile, one of the more active ransomware groups is LockBit, which has claimed responsibility for assaults against IT juggernaut Accenture, U.K. health services provider Advanced, and tech manufacturer Foxconn. A dual citizen of Canada and Russia was indicted in November for their alleged involvement with the ransomware ring.