Leicester streetlights take ransomware attack personally, shine on 24/7
- Reference: 1713870330
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/04/23/leicester_streetlights_ransomware/
- Source link:
Nearly two months after INC Ransom's attack hit the council's systems, residents' reports now have us thinking everyone in the city is donning thick shades to manage their newfound Svalbard-esque perpetual brightness.
Of course, it's not that serious, but according to Roger Ewens, 65, of Beaumont Leys, the streetlights on his road have been shining brightly all day and night for some time.
[1]
When he asked the council why the curtains keeping Beaumont Leys' bedrooms dark and cozy were being put to the test, he was told that it was a residual issue caused by the council's recent cyberattack.
[2]
[3]
Local media [4]reported the council's reply to Ewens, which explained that the knock-on effects of shutting down systems after detecting INC Ransom's cyberattack meant the "central management system" responsible for controlling the streetlights was "misbehaving."
A council spokesperson told us it was "aware of a number of streetlights that are staying on during the day."
[5]
"This is due to a technical issue connected to the recent cyberattack, when we were forced to shut down our IT systems. It means we are currently not able to remotely identify faults in the street lighting system.
"The default mode for faults is that the lights stay on to ensure that roads are not left completely unlit and become a safety concern. There are a number of steps required to resolve the problem, and we are working through these as quickly as we can."
Ewens was also told that the issue was expected to be resolved by the end of next week (May 3). That said, the council also thought its cyberattack would be sorted out within a few days when it was [6]first disclosed , so who knows how long it will take for locals' circadian rhythms to get back on track.
Disaster handled
Days after it became clear this early month that Leicester City Council wouldn't pay INC's ransom demands, even after it [7]leaked a sample of sensitive council data , the miscreants published the entirety of the files it stole, amounting to a sizeable 1.3 TB.
"At 1.3 TB, this is a much larger batch of data than the 25 documents published last week," said Richard Sword, the council's strategic director of city development and neighborhoods.
[8]Ransomware gang did steal residents' confidential data, UK city council admits
[9]INC Ransom claims to be behind 'cyber incident' at UK city council
[10]UK council won't say whether two-week 'cyber incident' impacted resident data
[11]UK council yanks IT systems and phone lines offline following cyber ambush
"We are in the process of reviewing the data to see exactly what it consists of, and have notified the Information Commissioner of our actions.
"We have a duty to inform anyone considered at high risk as a result of data breaches. Due to the amount of data published, we will be prioritizing people who may come under this category.
[12]
"We realize this data breach will cause concern, and apologize for any distress caused. We continue to work with Leicestershire Police and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) as part of this investigation."
The NCSC's official stance is to [13]not pay ransoms , and for the council to resist even knowing the scale of data theft showed its commitment to avoid funding the cybercrime ecosystem further.
CISA, the NCSC's counterpart over in the US, also strongly advises against paying ransoms, but in both nations the rules aren't always followed.
The attack on Colonial Pipeline, for example, caused such disruption to the East Coast that a [14]ransom payment became necessary . More recently, [15]Caesars Entertainment (allegedly) and [16]UnitedHealth both paid ransoms following their respective ransomware incidents, and the latter's CEO will [17]testify before the House's Energy and Commerce Subcommittee next month to explain how the attack unfolded. ®
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[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZifbIyI47O4KquZoqiLwWQAAAMI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZifbIyI47O4KquZoqiLwWQAAAMI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZifbIyI47O4KquZoqiLwWQAAAMI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/leicester-street-lights-stuck-day-9240197
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZifbIyI47O4KquZoqiLwWQAAAMI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/12/leicester_city_council_stays_shtum/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/04/ransomware_gang_did_in_fact/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/04/ransomware_gang_did_in_fact/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/02/inc_ransom_leicester_council/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/21/shock_uk_councils_recovery_from/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/12/leicester_city_council_stays_shtum/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZifbIyI47O4KquZoqiLwWQAAAMI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/10/ransomware_kettle/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/13/colonial_pipeline_ransom/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/28/casino_ransomware_attacks/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/16/change_healthcares_ransomware_attack_has/
[17] https://energycommerce.house.gov/posts/chairs-rodgers-and-griffith-announce-united-health-ceo-to-testify-at-oversight-hearing-on-change-healthcare-attack
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Connect everything!
...what could possibly be wrong...
At least they are illuminated all the time.
Maybe they're not all very bright, but it beats having murky shadows lurking to extract light pennies from behind heavy curtains.
Re: Connect everything!
I was going to ask, if this will be examined in retrospect and will show a decrease in motor vehicle collections, or break-ins, or some other event?
Like a decrease in colds and flu during the early days of Covid-19 as everyone washed their hands like their life depended upon it. Or fitness levels rose during lockdown as people took advantage of their 1h per day outside.
Re: Connect everything!
Once upon a time street lights had photocells to control when they turned themselves on or off. Presumably that was considered too complicated.
OK, a bit simplistic but how hard would it be to have a photocell to fall back on if contact was lost to the central control.
Re: Connect everything!
Indeed, and surely photocells are a better way to control for local conditions - e.g. they would make the lights come on during a dark and wet early evening even if it wasn't their normal time for coming on.
Re: Connect everything!
I think one of the reasons they went for centralised control is it just takes one pigeon with a good aim to knock the photocell out of operation. The cost of having some poor berk going around cleaning the photocells was deemed too high. But as a backup they are a better option then leaving them on all the time even if a small number of them are covered in crap (or leaves).
Re: Connect everything!
Or they could link the street lights in groups and have a system whereby the reading given by the majority of photocells determines the outcome (on/off) for the whole group? That would to an extent avoid the single point of failure inherent in both a single photocell and a centralised control system (yes, this is a form of centralised control but complete failure would affect far fewer lights, and there could be some redundancy built into the control module.).
They could be sulking
Perhaps these lights were made by the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation. They're a bit bored of turning on and off all the time, so are staying on permanently in protest.
Re: They could be sulking
Do the lights come with GPP (*) ?
(*) Genuine People Personalities
Re: They could be sulking
Well they stand around not doing much and some of them are quite dim. So to answer your question, yes.
Why are they controlled remotely anyway?
Didn't street lights used to have light sensors that simply turned them on when it was dark and off when light? Remote control seems overkill and over-engineering a simple requirement.
Re: Why are they controlled remotely anyway?
Yea but sensors get dirty, so you need someone out there doing the rounds to keep them clean.
Re: Why are they controlled remotely anyway?
A temperature sensor would probably suffice to be able to learn day/night timings and in a few days the date would be apparent, then you can just calculate dusk and midnight.
Re: Why are they controlled remotely anyway?
I suspect that there may be a remote fault detection system in operation that will alert the council to failed lights without the local residents having to bother, hence the remote access. In addition, some street lights, at least in the UK, have sockets for authorised people to connect to the power supply, and that may also require monitoring. (There is a car charging point on a streetlamp near my home.). If the council wants to save money on its electricity bills, it may also decide to turn some lights off or down at specific times. It is probably also cheaper to have a remote control system than light sensors on each streetlamp.
Re: Why are they controlled remotely anyway?
There's always (always in the sense of: long before internet) been remote control (ripple control) of street lights, at least in this part of the world. The lights have been switched based on a central light sensor and schedules (e.g. reduced street lighting after midnight). And for maintenance, once in a while someone patrolled the streets to detect faulty lamps, or preemptive exchange based on expected lifetime - whichever is more efficient. I do see some advantages of connecting street lights to the web: online detection of faulty lights, more flexible control of individual lights (instead of hard-wiring to a handful of groups). But is it really worthwhile?
Re: Why are they controlled remotely anyway?
> But is it really worthwhile?
Sure, if you're a responsible organization and don't cock things up so badly.
There was me thinking they had a light sensor and a chip that figured out the date and time from the length of day and then would turn on at dusk and off at midnight. No need for a network.
It has happened before and will happen again.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/lights-massachusetts-school-year-no-one-can-turn-rcna65611
Connect everything!
Ah the wonderful interconnected world we live in, if it requires just a single bit, even just a literal bit, of data then shove a wifi or ethernet port on it and get it connected to the internet! Now what could possibly be wrong with this picture?