ATLANTA — A cybersecurity expert claims he has evidence that data has already been leaked from Fulton County's suspected cyberattack, which was announced in January.
When the incident was first announced, Fulton County officials previously said they were unaware of any data being taken. On Wednesday, county officials said that the Fulton County cybersecurity incident stemmed from a ransomware attack motivated by financial gain.
Now, CEO of LEARGAS Security, Patrick Kelley, said iCloud data and even Former President Donald Trump and Young Thug's court cases could all be compromised.
And he said the countdown is on now before hackers release more.
Kelley printed what he found so far on a hacking website.
"Medical records, court cases that have been tried/haven't been tried, usernames and passwords," Kelley said.
Kelley said it looks like the first set of leaked credentials were from all departments in Fulton County.
"If you've worked, lived, or done business, you're going to be impacted," Kelley said.
Kelley said it confirms the suspicions Fulton County Board of Commissioners Chairman Rob Pitts spoke about at a press conference Wednesday that this is a ransomware attack.
"There's about 24 to 36 hours," Kelley said. "I think that's what the countdown is right now. And then, they're going to release all of the data, which tells me that Fulton County has chosen not to pay the ransom."
Kelley accuses Lockbit 3.0 of the hackers behind this. He described them as one of the more impressive groups known to attack high-value targets, like municipalities, for millions of dollars.
"I would imagine they, you know, looked at some of the notes and the things that took place with the City of Atlanta, and some of that carried over," Kelley said.
Nearly six years after the city's ransomware attack comes the county's. Kelley said the new attack could mean the release of police informant's names, but what concerned Kelley the most were the health records.
"There was an HIV department that's in Fulton County," Kelley said. "And there may be individuals that really don't want that status to be known."
Kelley said it would take time for the county to figure out how large the impact truly is.
"After that, it's really going to come down to that individual--who might consider reaching out to an attorney," Kelley said.
Kelley also mentioned that there were quite a few weak, administrative passwords disclosed in this leak. So, he said others should have to take this as a lesson to use a passphrase with numbers, symbols, and two-step verification.