(Newswire.net — July 23, 2019) — Ransomware led to the City of Atlanta spending an additional $2.6 million to fund emergency efforts against ransomware attacks. The city was victim of SamSam malware which kept the city’s computer systems down while hackers demanded that the city paid over $50,000 to have their computers “freed.”
Hackers have turned to ransomware in recent years, targeting many government systems.
Baltimore’s 311 and 911 systems were taken down by hackers for 17 hours. San Diego’s school system and the Colorado Department of Transportation were also targets of ransomware attacks.
Lake City officials paid over $426,000 in bitcoin to have their systems freed after a 15-day standoff. The hackers caused entire departments to have to shut down. Riviera Beach officials also paid $600,000 in bitcoin to hackers after the city’s entire online services were taken offline.
Cities often do not have their own cybersecurity budgets, but many are implementing their own security teams to help protect against attacks. Cities are turning to managed IT services to help protect against data leaks, ransomware and threats.
Nevada officials hired managed security services to help protect their systems from attacks. Security programs need to be able to meet regulations, be cost effective and prevent increasing attacks from hackers that continue to target city computer systems.
The FBI recommends that local governments do not pay ransoms, but officials have done little to help cities protect against attacks. Ransomware caused one company, with $60 million in revenue, to pay $3.1 million to free up their systems. The problem is hitting corporate and government agencies.
Atlanta’s ransomware impacted 5 of 13 government departments. The Police Department’s records system was taken down, and the judicial system was also impacted. Residents were unable to pay their water bills due to systems being taken down.
Atlanta officials paid the ransom, but security officials claim that there’s no guarantee that hackers will release their systems. The hackers also encrypt all infected devices, making it impossible for officials to access their system files.
There have been reports that Atlanta did not take proper measures, such as addressing network vulnerabilities, to stop ransomware attacks. Officials plan to spend millions of dollars to invest in proper security measures and to prevent a ransomware attack on the city’s computer networks in the future.
Emergency spending, after an attack occurs, can cost three-times more than addressing the threat immediately. Officials expect a SamSam ransomware attack to strike other cities, but SamSam is far from the worst form of ransomware.