Two Arrests in London over Washington CCTV Hack Pre-Trump Inauguration

CCTV cameras

Two people in London have been arrested in connection with the hack of Washington DC’s CCTV video recorders in the days leading to President Trump’s inauguration.

Authorities in London have raided the home of a British man and a Swedish woman, both 50, in connection with the alleged compromise of storage devices that record police surveillance cameras in the American capital between January 12 and 15.

As LIFARS reported recently, 123 of 187 storage devices in Washington were compromised during the sweeping cybersecurity attack.

According to the BBC, a spokesman for the National Crime Agency (NCA) did not confirm why the individuals were arrested. However, media reports widely suggest that the apprehended duo were related to the Washington DC cyberattack.

The NCA spoeksman added:

Inquiries are ongoing and we are unable to provide further information at this time.

The cyberattack compromised the recording devices with a ransomware strain, forcing a citywide reinstallation effort after the city refused to pay the ransom.

According to Washington’s chief technology officer Archana Vemulapalli, the devices were taken offline entirely first before wiping all software and restarting and reinstalling the software at locations around the city.

At least four malfunctioning camera sites were first discovered by DC City police who contacted the city’s technology office. A preliminary investigation followed and two unnamed strains of ransomware were discovered to have compromised the recording devices. The discovery spurred on a citywide investigation of looking into these video recorders which were connected to as many as four CCTV cameras at a site.

A stateside investigation is currently underway for the cybersecurity incident that threatened to hold the city hostage in the days before President Trump’s inauguration at the capital. The two suspects have been bailed in the meantime.

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