Tampa Radio: WMNF Victim Of Ransomware Cyberattack

Tampa-based non-com WMNF 88.5-FM is stepping up cybersecurity after its computer systems were hobbled by ransom-seeking hackers last month, reports The Tampa Bay Times.

Interim general manager Cindy Reichard said the ordeal began June 18 when a programmer noticed a computer in one of the studios was acting strangely.

The station then received a digital message: Your files have been encrypted. Pay us, and you can have them back.

It’s known as a ransomware attack, a common form of cyber crime where hackers install malicious code rendering a victim’s data useless until they pay for a digital key to decrypt it.

The station did not pay the ransom, and instead reported the attack to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

“FDLE told us that a lot of times you pay and you still don’t get your data back anyway,” Reichard said.

The hack did not affect any sensitive data, such as donor information, payroll or any financial documents, Reichard said.

The ransomware did infect a new AudioVault system where the station’s audio archives were stored, along with pre-recorded promos played between songs and other audio files.  Archived episodes of the station’s news and public affairs programming may be lost permanently.

The station has sent the affected server off to a local data recovery company to see what, if anything, can be salvaged.

Reichard was unsure how much money the hackers demanded.

“It depends, because you have to tell them which files you want to get back,” she said, but the station ultimately chose not to engage at all.

Reichard said investigators told her the ransomware could have originated in Russia.

Public radio stations have been targeted. In 2017, San Francisco NPR station KQED was hobbled for months by an attack that forced one of the nation’s largest public media companies to shut down its entire computer network to prevent the ransomware from spreading.