Cockrell Hill Police Department, located in Cockrell Hill, Texas, has recently lost eight years of police evidence\u00a0after a ransomware attack.\u00a0 According to Bleeping Computer<\/a>, the attack was discovered on December 12, 2016.<\/p>\n The ransomware variant used to encrypt the police department’s data is not being disclosed.\u00a0 The police department had the option to either pay the hackers\u00a0$4,000 to obtain the decryption keys to their data, or wipe their hard drives and start over.\u00a0 They chose not to pay.<\/p>\n The some of the data lost includes footage from body cameras, dash cameras, and photos.\u00a0 Cockrell Hill officials stated<\/a>,<\/p>\n “It is […] unknown how many videos or photographs that could have assisted newer cases will not be available, although the number of affected prosecutions should remain relatively small.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n To see a full list of ransomware attacks that have taken place in 2016, you can click here<\/a>.\u00a0 We have also created a ransomware map, see below, of the ransomware attacks that have taken place in the U.S.\u00a0 The map\u00a0includes both 2016 and 2017 attacks.2016 Ransomware Attacks<\/h4>\n
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