Ransomware incidents (Virginia State Police) • MuckRock

6 Communications
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Communications

From: Emma North-Best

08/25/2021

Subject: Virginia Freedom of Information Act Request: Ransomware incidents (Virginia State Police)

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To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Virginia Freedom of 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 5 business days, as the statute requires.

This request is filed by Tom Nash, a citizen of Virginia, in coordination with Emma North-Best.

From: Virginia State Police

08/25/2021

Subject: Your first record request #21-5171 has been opened.

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Virginia State Police

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Hi there

Your first Virginia State Police record request (request number #21-5171) has been submitted.
It is currently unpublished and is not available for the general public to view.

Thank you for your request to the Virginia Department of State Police (the Department). The Department will work to process your request and make a response to you according to the nature of the request.

Please refer to https://www.vsp.virginia.gov/Freedom_of_Information.shtm for helpful information about the Virginia Freedom of Information Act or access the Code of Virginia at https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodepopularnames/virginia-freedom-of-information-act/

Request #21-5171.

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Questions about your request? Reply to this email or sign in to contact staff at Virginia State Police. Technical support: See our <a href='https://www.nextrequest.com/support'>help page</a>

From: Virginia State Police

09/01/2021

Subject: [External Message Added] Virginia State Police public records request #21-5171

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Virginia State Police

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Hi there

A message was sent to you regarding record request #21-5171:

Due to the volume of requests and manpower constraints, it is not practical for the agency to respond in the 5 days permitted under Virginia Freedom of Information Act. You are hereby notified that, pursuant to § 2.2-3704(B)(4), the agency is entitled to, and here by asserts its right to claim, seven work days in addition to the five provided for in § 2.2-3704(B) in which to provide one of the responses set forth in § 2.2-3704.

From: Virginia State Police

09/03/2021

Subject: [External Message Added] Virginia State Police public records request #21-5171

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Virginia State Police

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Hi there

A message was sent to you regarding record request #21-5171:

Pursuant to § 2.2-3704(B), you must state with “reasonable specificity” the type of documents you are seeking. Your request in its current state is overly broad and will cost you well over a $1000.00 to process. We are more than happy to assist you, but you will need to provide more information, such as a time parameter.

From: Virginia State Police

09/07/2021

Subject: Your Virginia State Police public records request #21-5171 has been closed.

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Virginia State Police

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Hi there

Record request #21-5171 has been closed. The closure reason supplied was:

Thank you for your correspondence to the Virginia Department of State Police (the Department). As you may be aware, requests for records of the Commonwealth, its agencies and political subdivisions are governed by the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), §§ 2.2-3700 et. seq. of the Code of Virginia.

Based on your request, the Department has formulated an approximate advance estimate of the anticipated charges. Under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, we have determined that the estimated charges for searching for and redacting the requested records will be a minimum of $1,974. Before continuing to process your request, we require that you agree to the payment of a deposit in the amount of the advance determination. The deposit will be credited toward the final cost of supplying the requested records. The time period for producing the records or making a response under VFOIA is tolled for the amount of time that elapses between the notice of the advance determination and your response. Please advise us if you would like to pay the estimated charges and we will then proceed with processing your request.

If you decide to proceed with this request, please forward a copy of this letter along with a check for $ 1,974, payable to the Department of State Police, Attention: Legal Office, P.O. Box 27472, Richmond, Virginia, 23261-7472.

Files

There are no files associated with this request.

Submitted	Aug. 25, 2021
Est. Completion	None

Tracking #	21-5171
Multi Request	Ransomware incidents