Donald Trump Georgia Trial in Trouble as Hackers Threaten to Release Fulton County Court Documents Related to the Case for Ransom

A hacking group has set a deadline of Thursday morning, February 29, to release court documents from Fulton County, Ga., with files related to the criminal case against former President Donald Trump unless they receive a ransom payment.

This group had been previously shut down by law enforcement but has resurfaced, indicating a potential threat to the confidentiality of sensitive information.

The hacking group, known as LockBit, initially set a deadline for Saturday, March 2, which has been moved up to Thursday, February 29.

While the specific ransom amount remains undisclosed, cyber experts suggest that negotiations are usually conducted in private.

The group, headed by a hacker using the alias "LockBitSupp," seems to be operational again after several law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the United Kingdom's National Crime Agency, took down 34 of its servers.

LockBit has a history of targeting various entities beyond Fulton County, including major companies worldwide, accumulating over $120 million in ransom funds.

On February 20, the US Department of Justice unsealed an indictment accusing two Russian nationals of being involved in the group's hacking operations.

The group posted a message claiming it had backup copies of documents taken from the Fulton County government's website.

“The FBI decided to hack now for one reason only,” LockbitSupp said, “because they didn't want to leak information from Fulton County.”

Documents allegedly stolen by LockBit during a January 27 ransomware attack “contain a lot of interesting things and Donald Trump's court cases that could affect the upcoming U.S. election,” the statement continued.

LockbitSupp claimed that “had it not been for the election situation, the FBI would have continued to sit on my server waiting for any leads to arrest me and my associates.”

"Personally, I will vote for Trump because the situation on the border with Mexico is some kind of nightmare, Biden should retire, he is a puppet," the hacker said in a message to outlets.

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As of Wednesday, February 28, the hackers had ongoing ransom demands for 11 different companies on its website on top of the one for Fulton County.

According to the Department of Justice, the hacking group has infamously targeted over 2,000 victims and obtained over $120 million in ransom funds over the years.

Its previous targets include Boeing, the U.K.'s National Health Service and Royal Mail, and the state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

Forbes provided quotes and sources used in this article.