high severity December 27, 2023 · 3 min read Unverified claim — what this is

Lake of the Woods County Listed by Meow Ransomware Group

If you are a resident of Lake of the Woods County, here’s what is being claimed, and what it would mean for you.

Lake of the Woods County was listed on Meow's leak site. Meow claims to have stolen internal data. This is the group's claim, not a confirmed finding.

Lake of the Woods County Listed by Meow Ransomware Group

On December 27, 2023, Lake of the Woods County appeared on the leak site operated by the meow ransomware group. The listing states that internal files were exfiltrated during a ransomware attack on the Minnesota county government. The disclosure does not quantify how many residents or employees may be affected, nor does it list the specific types of records taken.

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Details from the Leak Site

The meow ransomware group’s onion site lists Lake of the Woods County as a victim and claims to have obtained internal files. The entry, first indexed on December 27, 2023, follows the group’s standard format of naming the target, posting a sample of allegedly stolen data, and threatening further publication if a ransom is not paid. No exact volume of data or detailed inventory of exposed material is provided in the listing. The county has not yet issued a public breach notification detailing what systems were compromised or which categories of information were taken.

Internal files exfiltrated is the only description given. This phrasing typically means documents, spreadsheets, databases, emails, or scanned records that ransomware operators commonly steal before encrypting systems.

Why This Matters for You and Your Family

When a county government suffers a ransomware breach, the people whose records it holds face direct risk. Lake of the Woods County maintains property records, tax rolls, voter registrations, court documents, health department files, and social-service case notes. Any of those could contain your full name, date of birth, Social Security number, driver’s license information, address, phone number, email, financial details, or family-member information. Even if the exact number of affected records remains unknown, the exposure of county systems usually touches most local residents and property owners.

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What the free scan actually returns

Sample resultyou@email.comIllustrative — not a real person

Found on people-search siteswe remove these

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value redacted in this sampleage, relatives, address historySpokeo

value redacted in this samplephone, household, property recordsBeenVerified

value redacted in this sample580 companies checked

Found in breach recordsverifiedreported — unverified

Each record is labeled: confirmed breach data, or an attacker’s claim no one has verified.

verifiedvalue redacted in this samplepassword + phone · 2024telecom breach

unverifiedvalue redacted in this sampleclaimed in ransomware listing · 2026leak-site claim

Leaked data cannot be deleted from the internet — anyone claiming otherwise is lying. Broker listings can be removed. We do the second, and show you exactly what to fix from the first.

Report details & sourcing

Attributed to Meow · 144 incidents tracked →

Severity High the filing does not enumerate what was exposed

Disclosed December 27, 2023

Last reviewed August 8, 2026

Affected Unconfirmed

By GalaxyWarden Threat Research · Editorial & sourcing standards

Unverified claim — what this report is

This page documents a public listing on a ransomware/extortion group’s leak site, tracked via public threat-intelligence sources. A listing is the attacker’s claim. GalaxyWarden aggregates and reports such claims; we have not independently verified that a breach occurred, what data (if any) was taken, or the accuracy of anything the group asserts, and the named organisation has not necessarily confirmed the incident. Sections above describe what the listing shows and the group’s documented history — not verified findings about the named organisation. If you represent this organisation and believe anything here is inaccurate, tell us and we’ll review it promptly.

Editorial & sourcing policy

GalaxyWarden is a breach-monitoring service and news aggregator. We do not exfiltrate, host, purchase, or redistribute stolen data. Breach information is compiled from publicly accessible sources and threat-intelligence platforms, and is reported as claims attributed to their source. We promptly correct or remove material shown to be inaccurate — see our content & takedown policy or write to support@galaxywarden.com.

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Meow — 144 incidents tracked

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