Ransomware incidents (Prince George's County Police Department)

Emma North-Best filed this request with the Prince George's County Police Department of Prince George's County, MD.

It is a clone of this request.

Tracking #

M21-241

Multi Request Ransomware incidents
Est. Completion None
Status
No Responsive Documents

Communications

From: Emma North-Best

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Maryland Public Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

Documents, including but not limited to emails, memos, and incident reports, mentioning or describing any reported or encountered incidents of "ransomware," which may be loosely defined as a type of malware that threatens to permanently encrypt and/or unless a ransom is paid.

I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the government and its activities, with some reaching over 100,000 readers in outlets such as Gizmodo, MuckRock, Motherboard, Property of the People, Unicorn Riot, and The Outline, among others. As such, as I have a reasonable expectation of publication and my editorial and writing skills are well established. In addition, I discuss and comment on the files online and make them available through non-profits such as the library Internet Archive and the journalist non-profit MuckRock, disseminating them to a large audience. While my research is not limited to this, a great deal of it, including this, focuses on the activities and attitudes of the government itself. As such, it is not necessary for me to demonstrate the relevance of this particular subject in advance.

As my primary purpose is to inform about government activities by reporting on it and making the raw data available, I request that fees be waived.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Emma North-Best

From: Prince George's County Police Department

This is the final response from the Prince George's County Police Department to your request for records. You requested the following information.

Documents, including but not limited to emails, memos, and incident reports, mentioning or describing any reported or encountered incidents of "ransomware," which may be loosely defined as a type of malware that threatens to permanently encrypt and/or unless a ransom is paid.

After a diligent search, no records in the Prince George's County Police Department were found that meets your request.

In closing, you may seek judicial review of this decision pursuant to Maryland Code Ann., General Provisions, §4-362. You may also refer any concerns about this decision to the Public Access Ombudsman pursuant to GP § 4-1B-01 et seq. If you have any questions or need to contact me regarding this matter, I can be reached during normal business hours at (301) 516-5978.

Best regards,

John Mitchell
Associate County Attorney
________________________________
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Files

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