Are two former Ohio governors barred from entering Columbus City Hall? A leaked document listing people Columbus considers a security risk includes the names of Bob Taft and Ted Strickland.
One of the latest documents found on the dark web related to the ransomware attack on the city of Columbus is a list of 200 names of people who appear to be banned from entering some or all of the city’s buildings.
The cybercriminal group Rhysida attempted to encrypt city systems in July and subsequently leaked personal information of Columbus residents and other city documents onto the dark web.
The list includes notes about each person explaining their presence on the list. Some are former employees who were fired, while others allegedly threatened city employees and elected officials.
The office of Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said they would not comment on security issues in the city.
Connor Goodwolf, a Columbus-based cybersecurity expert who analyzed the data leaked online, found the list in a trove of documents belonging to the city. In addition, images of people’s driver’s licenses, gun permits and passports were leaked online.
The city frequently scans the IDs of people visiting city buildings.
The entries containing Taft and Strickland’s names are captioned “PLEASE CHECK THE LICENSE AND SCAN IT AGAIN OR ENTER THE CORRECT NAME,” suggesting that someone used Taft and Strickland’s names as false pseudonyms to avoid being identified.
Strickland, who is currently in Chicago to attend the Democratic National Convention, told WOSU he couldn’t remember ever visiting Columbus City Hall. He joked that if he and Taft were on the same list, he would be in “good company.”
“Maybe we have a common enemy using our names. That’s pretty weird. I don’t know if I’ve ever been to City Hall,” Strickland said.
Ginther’s deputy chief of staff, Jennifer Fening, declined to answer questions about who created the list, who administers it and what criteria are used to determine whether someone is placed on the watch list and barred from public buildings.
Fening said in an email, “Current and former elected officials are welcome in our buildings and can engage with city leaders and staff.”
It is not known if this is the only list of its kind in the city.
There is no explanation for the mention of some names.
Goofwolf said the creation of such a list is concerning. “Here in the United States, we have due process. So a manager or security officer who works for the city can’t just decide, ‘Hey, I don’t like this person. We’re going to ban them from the premises,'” Goodwolf said.
Goodwolf said the city should give everyone the opportunity to voice their opinion and provide a reason why they behaved in a loud, offensive or obscene manner.
“We should not be able to prohibit individuals from entering a city or meeting a particular person just because we don’t like them,” Goodwolf said.
Goodwolf said the city needs to be transparent about the list, even though it was not publicly available before the leak.
“As for security procedures, those were generally never disclosed publicly. But with all this data floating around, the public is demanding answers and they are not giving them. And now we have two lawsuits to force the city to give us answers,” Goodwolf said.
These two lawsuits were filed by former and current Columbus police officers and a member of the Columbus Fire Department.
Strickland agreed that the city should be transparent in maintaining such a list. He also expects that he would not be denied access to any public building in the city.
“I assume that as a private citizen I have the right to enter any public building,” Strickland said.
