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Population
Fertility and mortality
2013: Average age of women at birth of first child is 25-26 years
Economy
2024: State GDP $1 trillion
Health care
Drugs
Main article: Drugs in the United States
2022: Marijuana use allowed for medical purposes only
Education
2023: Population literacy rate - 87.4%
History
2025: Ransomware virus attack that paralyzed courts and prosecutors
At the end of August 2025, it became known that the courts and the prosecutor's office of the US state of Pennsylvania were subjected to a massive attack by a ransomware virus, which disrupted the work of many IT systems. In particular, websites, phone lines and email systems, which were used by most employees, were affected.
The invasion was revealed on August 11, 2025. Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said cybercriminals encrypted files, causing computer systems to malfunction. For the restoration of access to information, the attackers demanded a ransom, but the officials refused to pay.
Due to the cyber incident, some Pennsylvania courts had to extend the deadlines for certain criminal and civil cases. The cyber attack disabled communication systems, and employees of the affected structures had to switch to "alternative channels and methods of interaction."
 | This situation was certainly a test for the staff of the General Prosecutor's Office and required some changes to our regular work. However, we are committed to our duty and mission to protect and represent the interests of Pennsylvania citizens, "Sunday said. |  |
As of the beginning of September 2025, the investigation of the incident continues - law enforcement specialists are involved in the work. Due to the ransomware virus attack, Pennsylvania courts and prosecutors have been unable to work normally for almost a month. It is known that the attackers managed to steal certain ones. personal data Previously, researchers in the field information security associated the attack with available Internet NetScaler instances Citrix containing the CVE-2025-5777 vulnerability.[1]
2024: Authorities pay $350,000 ransom after ransomware virus attack that blocked state servers
On February 15, 2024, county authorities Washington in Pennsylvania announced the payment of a ransom of almost $350 thousand to cybercriminals who organized a massive attack using. programs extortioners This invasion effectively paralyzed work. state IT infrastructures
Signs of the hacker attack in question were first recorded on January 19, 2024 in systems serving the suburbs of Pittsburgh. A few days later, this cyber activity turned into a large-scale invasion of the ransomware virus, affecting various state services. On February 5, 2024, Sylint, a company specializing in information security issues, confirmed that the attackers stole a large amount of confidential data: these are social security and driver's license numbers, as well as information about minors from the judicial system. The criminals encrypted the files and demanded a ransom. Authorities say cybercriminals were able to seize control of the county's computer network by blocking all operations.
The official position of the FBI is that victims of ransomware should not pay ransom, because there is no guarantee that attackers will decrypt information. In addition, payment encourages cybercriminals to carry out such attacks. However, in the event of an attack on Pennsylvania, it was not possible to restore access to encoded data to specialists on their own. As a result, the district commission voted to pay money to the attackers.
It is noted that Washington County turned to DigitalMint from Chicago to transfer $346,687 in cryptocurrency to criminals. In exchange, the hackers provided a decryption key to unlock the servers and promised to delete all stolen data.[2]
Notes
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