San Francisco 49ers ransomware attack exposes thousands

SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco 49ers said nearly 21,000 people may have had their information exposed in a data breach.

Team officials said names and social security numbers were exposed during the attack, putting thousands at risk for identity theft. They began notifying people affected by a ransomware attack in February.

Earlier this year, the Associated Press had reported the ransomware gang BlackByte posted some of the purportedly stolen team documents on a dark web site in a file marked "2020 Invoices." 

The gang did not make any of its ransom demands public or specify how much data it had stolen or encrypted.

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Ransomware gangs, which hack targets and hold their data hostage through encryption, have caused widespread havoc in the last year with high-profile attacks on the world’s largest companies and organizations.

Last month, federal authorities warned Bay Area companies of increasing ransomware cyberattacks known as Zeppelin. The warning was aimed at all industries but specifically those dealing with COVID and monkeypox.