HelpRansomware discusses the ransomware attack on the United States Marshals Service.
The company, a leader in ransomware removal, cybersecurity and decryption, studies the facts and how they have affected the online reputation of the Department of Justice division.
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Message from the US Marshals Service
On February 28, the media reported the attack on the US Marshals Service.
Drew Wade, director of public affairs for the service, was responsible for communicating the incident to various media outlets and agencies, including Reuters:
“The US Marshals Service suffered a ransomware breach that compromised sensitive law enforcement information.”
The ransomware attack was reported to the U.S. Department of Justice.
“The affected systems contain sensitive law enforcement information, including legal process statements, administrative information, and personally identifiable information related to subjects of investigations and certain employees.”
Ransomware attack, ten days earlier
Although the notification of the computer incident occurred on February 28, the ransomware attack occurred on February 17, according to the US Marshals Service:
“On February 17, a ransomware and data exfiltration event affecting an independent US Marshals Service system was detected.”
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Who is the US Marshals Service?
The United States Marshals Service is a division of the Department of Justice responsible for protecting judges, transporting federal prisoners, and operating the Witness Protection Program.
Their website describes them as follows:
“The mission is to enforce federal laws and provide support to virtually all elements of the federal justice system.”
US Marshals Service Private Information
NBC News broke the news of the significant security breach that compromised the confidential information of the US Marshals Service.
In a live video, the chain explained the risk associated with the ransomware attack.
An independent computer system was infected with the malware and was able to separate it and continue working.
Some of the information included data on fugitives, but they defended themselves by claiming that “their main job, after all, is to track wanted fugitives.”
The source, NBC News, continues:
“There is no significant risk of harm from this disclosure. In addition, the possibility of violating the witness protection program has been ruled out.”
It is not known if the US Marshals Service paid the ransom in exchange for the decryption key and data deletion.
HelpRansomware, a leader in ransomware removal, cybersecurity and decryption, always advises against paying the ransom to hackers.
Giving in to extortion, in addition to not ensuring recover encrypted files, contributes to cybercrime.
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Attack on US Government Agency
This computer attack is the second this month against a U.S. government agency.
CNN reported that the FBI was working to contain a computer incident in mid-February.
FBI officials took it upon themselves to isolate the malicious activity, which sources say involved a computerized system for investigating child sexual exploitation.
Hackers target government victims for confidential data archiving and need to decrypt ransomware files.
US Marshals Service: the analysis
HelpRansomware, a leading ransomware decryption company, looks at how this criminal act has affected the US Marshals Service’s online reputation and whether online users have picked up on this attack.
The study is divided into:
- Feelings;
- Positive and negative themes;
- Results;
- Emotions;
- Trends.
For the analysis, HelpRansomware considers the period from February 27 to March 1.
Sentiment
Sentiment calculates the percentage of sentiment, positive or negative, generated by users on the Internet.
The online sentiment for US Marshals Service is very negative.
It shows only 1.8% positive sentiment compared to 78.3% negative.
With these percentages, the net sentiment for the Marshals Service is -95.4%, a drop of 60% in just three days.
Negative sentiment has increased by 7,835% compared to the previous period.
With these numbers, which, as can be seen in the graph, stand out on February 28, the date of the ransomware announcement, the US Marshals Service is experiencing a reputational crisis.
Results
Results are the interactions (mentions, likes, comments, videos, etc.) in a given time period.
In this case, from February 27th to March 1st.
The total number of scores in this period is 2K.
As you can see in the image, there is a larger volume concentrated on the day of February 28th.
In fact, the number of results increases by 1.2K compared to the previous period, as shown in the sentiment graph.
Sentiment
HelpRansomware has analyzed the emotions generated by the Department of Justice.
ReputationUP’s proprietary software, the RepUP Monitoring Tool, breaks down the different emotions as follows:
- Happiness;
- Sadness;
- Fear;
- Anger;
- Surprise.
The largest emotion is anger at 63.3%, increasing by 2,708%.
Fear follows with 21.4%, an increase of 5,600%.
Sadness (10.9%) and happiness (4.3%) follow.
Trends
The software analyzes what are the trends, from February 27th to March 1st, related to US Marshals Service.
Some of the topics related to US Marshals Service are:
- Cyber Attack;
- Breach;
- Ransomware;
- Attack;
- Security.
All of these keywords are in the negative-neutral range and show the speed and interest of Internet users in current events.
On the other hand, the hashtags associated with the US Marshals Service are also associated with the attack: #ransomware, #cybersecurity, and #hacking.
More than 50 hashtags are negatively related to the US Marshals Service.
Further evidence of the agency’s reputation crisis.
Conclusions
HelpRansomware has analyzed the attack on the US Marshals Service and how the ransomware incident has affected the online reputation of the law enforcement agency.
The following conclusions can be drawn from this case study:
- Major media outlets such as CNN or NBC News exclusively shared information about the ransomware attack;
- The US Marshals Service has only 1.8% positive sentiment compared to 78.3% negative;
- Online results increased on February 28, the same day the ransomware attack was reported;
- The top emotion is anger at 63.3%;
- Online trends are negative and associated with ransomware attacks with keywords such as #ransomware, #cybersecurity and #hacking.
The US Marshals Service online presence is growing due to the cyber incident, but user sentiment is very negative.
The ransomware attack has affected the online reputation of the Department of Justice, which has a net sentiment of -95.4%.
Currently, the US Marshals Service is experiencing a reputation crisis due to the cyber attack.
Once again, we see how ransomware exploits the vulnerability of institutions and businesses.
If you are a victim of ransomware, contact HelpRansomware, a company specializing in ransomware removal, cybersecurity and decryption.
