ZooTampa disclosed cyberattack claimed by BlackSuit ransomware group

ZooTampa at Lowry Park, a nonprofit zoo in Tampa, Florida, said in July 2023 that it had discovered unauthorized activity in its network environment. The BlackSuit ransomware group claimed responsibility, listing the zoo on its extortion site on July 5, 2023.

The zoo said the information involved related to vendors and employees. It stated that it does not store personal or financial information about daily visitors or members on its systems, which limited the scope of the incident. ZooTampa did not specify which categories of vendor and employee data were affected.

In response the zoo engaged third-party forensic specialists to secure its network environment and establish the extent of the unauthorized activity, and it contacted federal law enforcement. It said it was notifying affected employees and vendors while the investigation continued. Neither the zoo nor reporting at the time indicated that visitor operations were disrupted.

BlackSuit had surfaced only weeks earlier, in May 2023. Researchers who compared its samples with the Royal ransomware family found very high code similarity, and both have been linked to the Conti group, which disbanded in 2022. Analyst Brett Callow was among those who circulated evidence of the ZooTampa listing. The zoo was pursuing a 125 million dollar redevelopment at the time of the attack.