After three weeks of its systems paralysis, Riviera Beach City Council has agreed to pay nearly €560,000 in ransom to hackers. All in Bitcoin.
One click for $600,000. This is the story of Riviera Beach, an American city of 32,500 inhabitants located in Florida, which after three weeks of computer paralysis finally agreed to pay, on Thursday, the ransom demanded by the hackers: 65 bitcoins - or 558,000 euros. A transfer required in cryptocurrency because of its intractability (of course).
All the city networks out of order
The story begins on May 29, when a municipal employee opens a phishing email that contained malware. In record time, the virus spread to all computer networks in the city.
Public servants no longer have access to their mailboxes and telephone lines. According to the local daily newspaper, The Palm Beach Post, they were resuming obsolete practices: salaries paid by cheque, fines written by hand.
Even more serious, the virus disrupted emergency numbers and even water treatment plants.
A new IT fleet
According to the municipality's spokeswoman, Rose Anne Brown, paying the ransom was the "best solution," (according to the Washington Post).
This decision was taken by the crisis committee set up on 5 June. The city then communicated, stating that it was aware of the "computer security incident", and assured that "internal teams and external consultants were working to solve the problem".
Before paying the ransom, the city opted to purchase a new IT fleet: 400 new computers and other equipment for which it has released $1 million.
E-mails, financial services and water treatment plants have gradually been restored, but some data were still inaccessible on Monday 17 June, according to AFP. The city council is crossing its fingers that the ransom payment will now allow them to be recovered.
More than fifty American cities attacked
Unlike national or even regional authorities, cities are easy prey. The smaller they are, the less they can afford to ensure their IT security in the face of such attacks. And their computer vulnerability is a blessing for hackers.
Over the past two years, about 50 American cities have been targeted by similar assaults.
Last month, the city of Baltimore refused to pay the pirates a ransom of $76,000. And she's still not out of the woods…
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