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posted by martyb on Thursday June 20 2019, @05:48PM   Printer-friendly
from the sign-of-things-to-come dept.

A Florida city paid a $600k Bitcoin ransom to hackers who took over its computers — and it's a massive alarm bell for the rest of the US

A Florida city's council voted to pay a ransom of $600,000 in Bitcoin to hackers that targeted its computer systems — and the payout is a sign of how unprepared much of the US is to deal with a coming wave of cyber attacks.

The city council of Riviera Beach, 50 miles north of Fort Lauderdale, voted on Monday to meet the demands of their hackers in the hope of getting back their compromised data, CBS News reported.

According to The Palm Beach Post, the attack began on May 29, when a employee from the police department opened an email attachment that contained malware. The software quickly spread through the city's computer systems, affecting its email system and even the 911 dispatch operations.

The New York Times reported that the hackers demanded their ransom in bitcoin. The paper noted that there is no guarantee that hackers will honor their end of the deal after getting the money. CBS reported that the council already voted to spend $1 million on new computers after the attack.

Also at CNN.

Related: In Baltimore And Beyond, A Stolen NSA Tool Wreaks Havoc


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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday June 20 2019, @06:25PM (8 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday June 20 2019, @06:25PM (#858116) Journal

    I consciously used the cringy "Cyber Attackers" instead of "Hackers" in the headline. What do you think? Wanna cyber?

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  • (Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Thursday June 20 2019, @07:15PM (6 children)

    by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Thursday June 20 2019, @07:15PM (#858138) Journal

    I flip you a Cyber Bird in salute!

    Of course, one could just use "Criminals" or "Extortionists", but where's the fun in that?

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    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Thursday June 20 2019, @07:24PM (5 children)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday June 20 2019, @07:24PM (#858147) Journal

      My main concern was purists getting mad over "hacker" being used as "cracker".

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      • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday June 20 2019, @07:36PM (2 children)

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday June 20 2019, @07:36PM (#858163) Journal

        It's a losing loosing battle. Just like improperly pronouncing "Haley's" comet, "February", "Wednesday" or "Environment".

        People are always going to say "hacker".

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        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 20 2019, @07:52PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 20 2019, @07:52PM (#858172)

          It's a losing loosing battle. Just like improperly pronouncing "Haley's" comet, "February", "Wednesday" or "Environment".

          Nucular. It's pronounced "Nu-cu-lar." [youtube.com]

          • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday June 20 2019, @08:20PM

            by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday June 20 2019, @08:20PM (#858194) Journal

            Yes, how did I forget that one.

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      • (Score: 2) by edIII on Thursday June 20 2019, @11:50PM

        by edIII (791) on Thursday June 20 2019, @11:50PM (#858306)

        Heh, well using "cracker" in the derogatory sense can rile some purists too :)

        When I hear cracker, I think about the people removing CD checks and whatnot from games.

        I like "attacker" though because it's more accurate.

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      • (Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Friday June 21 2019, @02:16PM

        by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Friday June 21 2019, @02:16PM (#858544) Journal

        OK, gotcha now. I can understand that and we do get stupid about things (like hatred of 'cyber' for myself). But sometimes the question might be, "Is it needful to make any such reference or just note the specific type of crime and not need to specify that it's an Internet crime?" Especially when context should make it clear, anyway. Why say "pirate" or "filesharing" if the offense is "copyright infringement" and the story makes it clear that it was by filesharing? But don't take that as a criticism per se.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 20 2019, @08:54PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 20 2019, @08:54PM (#858216)

    a/s/l?