“RobbinHood” ransomware takes down Baltimore city government networks

Enlarge / Most of Baltimore City’s networks were shut down as a ransomware attack took down mail servers and other systems at a number of city departments on May 7. (credit: Alex Wroblewski / Getty images)

Systems at a number of departments of Baltimore’s city government were taken offline on May 7 by a ransomware attack. As of 9:00am today, e-mail and other services remain offline. Police, fire, and emergency response systems have not been affected by the attack, but nearly every other department of the city government has been affected in some way.

Calls to the city’s Office of Information Technology are being answered by a recording stating, “We are aware that systems are currently down. We are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”

#BCRPALERT: BCRP is experiencing network and email outages. We apologize for the delay in all communications and are working to solve the problem. Please know our online payment, permit, program registration and service requests are currently effected. pic.twitter.com/vzXYnEqi7M

— Baltimore Rec & Parks (@RecNParks) May 7, 2019

Lester Davis, a spokesperson for Baltimore’s Mayor’s office, told the Baltimore Sun’s Ian Duncan that the attack was similar to one that hit Greenville, North Carolina in April. Based on information obtained by the Sun, the ransomware is a variant of RobbinHood, a relatively new type of malware with an as-yet unknown attack vector.