06-21-2019, 02:21 AM
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/...tems-back/
A saga that began with a municipal employee opening a corrupted email has forced a small Florida city to agree to pay nearly $600,000 to the hackers who paralyzed its computer systems — a cautionary tale for smaller governments whose security systems may also be unprepared for such an attack.
With Riviera Beach’s records held hostage, its city council voted unanimously to pay 65 bitcoin to the hackers — a tab that will be picked up by the city’s insurance carrier. For the past three weeks, city employees have not been able to access their emails, emergency dispatchers couldn’t log calls into computers, and workers and vendors had to be paid with paper checks. Even cops had to dig through closets at the police headquarters to find paper traffic citations, the Palm Beach Post reported.
Experts say the Florida case is just one example of how vulnerable municipalities are to ransomware attacks, and how much more common these hits have become. Compared to larger corporations or state-level governments, cities don’t necessarily have security measures in place to preempt cyber attacks. And a downed system could have serious effects on citizens who rely on city hall to carry out basic, if not life-saving services.
A saga that began with a municipal employee opening a corrupted email has forced a small Florida city to agree to pay nearly $600,000 to the hackers who paralyzed its computer systems — a cautionary tale for smaller governments whose security systems may also be unprepared for such an attack.
With Riviera Beach’s records held hostage, its city council voted unanimously to pay 65 bitcoin to the hackers — a tab that will be picked up by the city’s insurance carrier. For the past three weeks, city employees have not been able to access their emails, emergency dispatchers couldn’t log calls into computers, and workers and vendors had to be paid with paper checks. Even cops had to dig through closets at the police headquarters to find paper traffic citations, the Palm Beach Post reported.
Experts say the Florida case is just one example of how vulnerable municipalities are to ransomware attacks, and how much more common these hits have become. Compared to larger corporations or state-level governments, cities don’t necessarily have security measures in place to preempt cyber attacks. And a downed system could have serious effects on citizens who rely on city hall to carry out basic, if not life-saving services.