The LockBit ransomware group claimed credit for a cyberattack on the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA), and HACLA has since stated it is investigating the matter.

More than 19,000 low-income families in Los Angeles have access to HACLA’s cheap housing, and on December 31st, the organisation was included to LockBit’s dark web leak site. TechCrunch has viewed a listing which states that LockBit has stolen 15 gigabytes of data from the housing authority.

According to screenshots supplied by the hackers, the compromised material contains sensitive information from the city agency’s payroll, human resources, and accounting files, as well as the personal details of persons who applied for housing aid from the city.

Courtney Gladney, a representative for HACLA, declined to speak further, but did say that the organisation had experienced “disruption” to its systems due to “a cyber incident.”

The representative stated, “We are working tirelessly with third-party professionals to determine the source of this disruption, validate its impact on our systems, and restore full functionality securely to our environment as quickly as possible.” As we attempt to find a solution to this problem, we promise to keep up our high standard of service.

There has been no mention of the cyber attack on HACLA’s website or social media as of this writing.

The attack on HACLA, which was allegedly carried out by LockBit, is the second major hack on a Los Angeles city agency in recent months. The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the nation’s second-largest, was attacked by the Russian-speaking Vice Society ransomware organisation in September. After the hack, the group released hundreds of terabytes of material, including passport information, Social Security numbers, medical records, and student evaluations of their mental health.

Meanwhile, LockBit is one of the more active ransomware groups, having claimed assaults on technology company Foxconn, U.K. healthcare service firm Advanced, and IT behemoth Accenture. A Canadian-Russian national was arrested in November and accused with being a member of the ransomware group.