Beaver County Paid $175,000 After Ransomware Attack on Behavioral Health Office
Summary
Beaver County commissioners authorized a $175,000 payment after hackers took control of a county behavioral health office’s systems and threatened to publish data. A state bill co-sponsored by the county’s senator would ban public ransomware payments but remains stalled
Key points
- The article reports that hackers took control of Beaver County Behavioral Health’s systems and threatened to post stolen data online.
- County commissioners authorized a $175,000 payment to recover the data, according to the article.
- Pennsylvania Senate Bill 415 would prohibit state and local governments from using public money to pay ransomware extortion demands.
- The bill was introduced in March 2025 and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it had not received a vote.
- State Sen. Elder Vogel, who represents the county, is one of six co-sponsors of the bill.
Article Details
- Victim Organization
- Beaver County Behavioral Health
- Incident Type
- Ransomware attack involving system takeover, data theft, and an extortion threat to publish the stolen data
- Operational Impact
- Hackers took total control of systems belonging to Beaver County Behavioral Health. The article does not describe service disruption.
- Ransom Or Extortion
- County commissioners authorized a $175,000 payment to recover stolen data after hackers threatened to publish it online.
- Claim Status
- confirmed