Columbus on track to have internet restored after hack

COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — The director of the Columbus Department of Technology gave an update Monday night, showing slight progress in the city’s recovery efforts against the ransomware attack that hit in late July.

It was a very brief update during Monday’s City Council meeting: this week, the Department of Technology is focused on restoring internet and employee remote access. The director shared that the goal is to have the internet fully restored this week.

“City departments have limited access to the internet using either wi-fi connectivity in city buildings or the websites we have specifically permitted to be accessed,” the Director of the Department of Technology Sam Orth said.

Orth shared that tests were happening throughout Monday and would continue after the meeting to ensure the internet is safe to fully restore.

“With full internet restoration this week, users will be able to browse the internet from their desktop computers over wired networks to the city’s internet service providers,” Orth said.

The city attorney’s office also spoke on what it announced Friday — the city has come to an agreement with Connor Goodwolf, the expert who helped NBC4 Investigates uncover the extent of the cyber-attack.

“It does not prevent him from discussing the intrusion or the types of data, so we think this is a positive development in protecting the city’s data from further being put out on the web,” Columbus City Attorney Deputy Chief of Staff Brian Shinn said.

The agreement is a permanent injunction that prohibits Goodwolf from disseminating the stolen city data. In return, the city will drop the lawsuit.

It is not illegal to go on the dark web or access data posted there as long as you don’t pay for it and don’t do anything illegal with it.

The city attorney’s office shared it would file similar legal action if anyone else decides to disseminate the stolen city data.

“Our office would be prepared to take a similar action any time that we become aware of a similar threat,” Shinn said.

Once again, we asked for an interview with Orth and were told he did not have time. We will continue asking.

There is one month left to enroll in the city’s offer of free credit monitoring. So far more than 16,500 people have signed up. The deadline is Nov. 29.

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