ZooTampa at Lowry Park Details

ZooTampa at Lowry Park

Tampa, Florida • 273 employees • Civil Society and Non-Profits

https://zootampa.org/

United States

Industry

Civil Society and Non-Profits

Security Incidents

ZooTampa at Lowry Park, commonly referred to as ZooTampa, is a non-profit zoo located in Tampa, Florida. The organization is dedicated to the conservation of wildlife through education, public exhibitions, and various rescue and rehabilitation programs. Originally established in the 1930s, ZooTampa has undergone several transformations, with major renovations and expansions occurring in the 1980s and 2000s to enhance animal habitats and visitor experiences.

Notable features of ZooTampa include its endangered species programs, particularly with Florida manatees and other indigenous species. Th...
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Security Incidents

ZooTampa at Lowry Park Breach of Jul 2023

Severity Score

Moderate to Significant

Type

Ransomware Attack

Summary

ZooTampa, one of the U.S.’s top zoos, recently suffered a cyberattack perpetrated by the BlackSuit ransomware gang, an apparent offshoot of the notorious Royal ransomware group. The breach resulted in the theft of employee and vendor information, but it did not compromise personal or financial information of daily visitors or members. Upon discovering the incident, ZooTampa engaged third-party forensic experts to secure their network and initiated collaboration with federal law enforcement.

The attack marks one of the early incidents attributed to the BlackSuit group, which emerged in May and...
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Severity

The cyberattack on ZooTampa, involving an apparent offshoot of the Royal ransomware group known as BlackSuit, stands as a significant incident in the cybersecurity landscape. Although the zoo swiftly engaged third-party forensic specialists and alerted federal law enforcement, the breach led to the theft of employee and vendor information. The attackers demonstrated notable sophistication, leveraging experience from former affiliations with Conti and deploying ransomware against both Windows and Linux environments.

Given the theft of sensitive information, the involvement of experienced cyber...
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Impact

ZooTampa recently experienced a cyberattack attributed to an offshoot of the Royal ransomware gang, possibly the BlackSuit group. The incident led to the theft of employee and vendor information, although the zoo confirmed that personal or financial information of daily visitors or members was not stored or accessed.

While there was no confirmation regarding ransomware-specific activities, the prompt intervention included engagement with third-party forensic specialists and cooperation with federal law enforcement. Additionally, there has been no indication of operational disruptions or syste...
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