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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: 3, Interesting) by stretch611 on Thursday June 20 2019, @07:28PM

    by stretch611 (6199) on Thursday June 20 2019, @07:28PM (#858151)

    I should run for office now as a get rich quick scheme.

    1) Once I get in, I can email myself some trojan software. "absent-mindedly" click on the attachment in my email and infect the city's computers.
    2) Vote to pay the ransom which goes to my anonymous bitcoin account.
    3) Profit.

    Of course, I would always remove the trojan after I collect the ransom, after all if I set the premise that I am truthful and always return the data, I can repeat the scam every month and the rest of the idiots will continue to pay out. Notice that even the summary said they were investing in new computers, not better security.

    --
    Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
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