A ransomware group called Babuk has broken into the computer network of the Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department and threatened to release sensitive information about police informants if they are not contacted within three days.
Ransomware scrambles computer networks and steals information from large companies or government organizations and then demands enormous sums of money in return for ending the hack.
Screenshots from the darknet show that the hackers had gained access to information about criminal gang activity and intelligence reports from police.
It is unclear whether the hackers managed to lock police out of their systems during the attack.
Earlier this month, Babuk targeted the Houston Rockets basketball team with ransomware, claiming to be in possession of stolen player contracts and financial data.
Last week, a Russian man now in the US pleaded guilty to trying to use ransomware to steal company secrets to extort money from electric carmaker Tesla.
US government agencies have reportedly been targeted 26 times this year.
For more information, you may view the original story from BBC.