Hackers have released extensive private dossiers on five D.C. Metropolitan Police officers in an attempt to extort the department, according to NBC News. Each officer’s file, marked “Confidential” and titled “Background Investigation Documents,” is around 100 pages long, and contains highly sensitive information such as their arrest histories, housing, and financial records, as well as results from past polygraph tests. NBC News reported that one officer confirmed the files’ authenticity. The attack is known as “ransomware,” a criminal enterprise where cybercriminals hack an organization and then threaten to leak or lock its files if a ransom is not paid. According to one analysis, ransomware attacks cost an estimated $3.6 billion in the U.S. in 2020. The Biden administration has announced plans for a yet-to-be-revealed strategy for dealing with ransomware attacks.
