A Montreal-area city was hit by ransomware over the weekend, according to a Quebec news service.
La Presse reported this morning that the city of Westmount mayor Christina Smith confirmed the attack. Westmount is a municipality of about 21,000 people within Montreal.
The Lockbit ransomware gang has claimed credit, saying it copied 14 TB of data and will release it in two weeks unless a ransom is paid. The city’s website hasn’t been affected by the attack.
LockBit’s claim shouldn’t be assumed to be accurate, cautioned Brett Callow, a British-Columbia-based threat analyst for Emsisoft – at least, not in relation to 14TB having been exfiltrated. “They’ve exaggerated in the past, and could be doing so again,” he said in an email.
According to La Presse, the attack was spotted Sunday morning by a city employee who noticed a problem with a computer.
La Press quotes Claude Vallières, the city’s head