Researcher sued for sharing data stolen by ransomware with media

The City of Columbus suffered a July 18, 2024 ransomware incident attributed to the Rhysida group, which claimed to have stolen 6.5 TB of data and later published approximately 3.1 TB (260,000 files) containing sensitive information including employee credentials, law enforcement records, and Social Security numbers. Security researcher David Leroy Ross (aka Connor Goodwolf) publicly accessed and shared samples of the leaked material to dispute city statements that the data were unusable; the City responded by filing suit seeking injunctions and damages and obtained a temporary restraining order preventing further downloading and dissemination of the stolen data.