City Pays $2,000 in Computer Ransomware Attack

[nir]

A Connecticut city has paid $2,000 to restore access to its computer system after a ransomware attack.

 

West Haven officials said Thursday they paid the money to anonymous attackers through the digital currency bitcoin to unlock 23 servers and restore access to city data.

 

The attack disabled servers early Tuesday morning, and city officials say it was contained by 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

 

City attorney Lee Tiernan says officials initially didn't want to pay the ransom, but research showed it was the best course of action.

 

The city says there's no reason to believe data was compromised. Employee pay was not affected.
 

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says the attack came from outside the U.S.

 

An investigation is ongoing.

 

Source

[straycat19]

Shouldn't take too long to track that bitcoin transaction down.  A lot of those ransoms are never collected because law enforcement is watching to see who accesses it.  Several months ago my daughter got a new position moving from the treasury department to bank secrecy investigations, tracking illegal transactions including cryptocurrency.  It is really interesting to hear some of her stories and knowing that criminals aren't as smart as they think they are.