A ransomware attack has forced a shutdown of the IT networks in Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Caucus on Friday morning (03.03.2017) as state officials reported to local media. It rendered IT systems and data inaccessible to caucus members and employees.
In the official statement the Democratic leader (Jay Costa) stated that the officials were working with law enforcement agencies and Microsoft to resolve the problem as quickly as possible. At this time, it remains unclear whether any ransom payment has been demanded or paid to recover the data. According to the statement by Press Secretary (Stacey Witalec), there are no indications that the Senate Democratic system was specifically targeted or that any data was compromised.
While all Senate Democrat offices remain open, officials are in direct contact with FBI and are investigating the incident as cyber attack.
Interestingly, an anonymous source has reported, that the Democratic senators in the state capital are on their own computer network and there is no indication that other state agencies of the Republicans have been infiltrated or compromised.