3 years ago
Florence, a city in Alabama ,USA has agreed to pay a little more than a quarter of a million dollars to cyber-criminals who are said to have encrypted the city’s data in a ransomware attack.
A ransomware gang called DoppelPaymer conducted a cyber attack on the city’s email system on June 5 and caused it to shut down.
The gang demanded 38 bitcoins, equivalent to USD $378,000, and threatened to publish or sell data stolen from Florence if the city didn't pay up.
A security firm hired by Florence in the wake of the attack was able to negotiate the ransom down to 30 bitcoin, worth around $291,000.
City mayor Steve Holt said that Florence had decided to pay the ransom despite not knowing for certain what data the cyber-criminals had stolen and encrypted.
The mayor suspected that the attackers gained access to the city's computer system via a phishing attack.
He also added that the DoppelPaymer gang appeared to have compromised the networks of four further victims within an hour of striking Florence, including another municipality that he declined to name.
