Hackers target L.A.’s Housing Authority in a suspected ransomware attack

The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles was assessing the damage Tuesday from an apparent attack by hackers who are threatening to publish a vast store of the agency’s data they claim to have seized. HACLA officials did not provide updates Tuesday afternoon to their Monday night statement that referred to a “cyber event.” “We are working diligently with third-party specialists to investigate the source of this disruption, confirm its impact on our systems, and to restore full functionality securely to our environment as soon as possible,” the statement said. HACLA media and marketing specialist Courtney Gladney told City News Service that the agency had reported the attack to federal law enforcement but declined to say whether a ransom demand had been made. The complaint claimed that members of LockBit had made more than $100 million in ransom demands since January 2020, successfully extracting “tens of millions” from victims. A similar attack against the Los Angeles Unified School District by hacker group Vice Society resulted in the release of thousands of files last fall when the school district refused to pay.