A second small Florida city this month has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to hackers who took over most of its computer operations, an official said Wednesday, while a third Florida city said its data was breached.
The attacks in Riviera Beach, Lake City and Key Biscayne underscore the need for municipal governments to update and secure their software systems, and also reflect the dilemma of how to respond to hackers. The FBI doesn't condone paying ransom to hackers, but city governments often consider it the most convenient option.
The city manager of Lake City, a community of about 13,000 residents some 60 miles (100 kilometers) west of Jacksonville, says it paid about $460,000 in bitcoin Tuesday to recover data and computer operations.
In a separate case, the Village of Key Biscayne, just off the coast of Miami, reported a data breach earlier this week. This comes a week after Riviera Beach in South Florida agreed to pay $600,000 in ransom.
It was not immediately clear if there was any connection between the attacks.
Joseph Helfenberg, city manager of Lake City, said paying the ransom was the cheapest option available since the city is paying a $10,000 deductible, and the rest is being covered by its insurer.
"We had a lot of attempts to recover the data that were unsuccessful," Helfenberg said Wednesday.
Lake City was targeted by a malware attack known as "Triple Threat" on June 10, rendering many network systems and telephones inoperable. Public safety departments were largely spared, but the attack made email systems unusable and affected the city's utilities, customer service, clerk's office and administrative departments, said Helfenberg, who said investigators are in the process of determining how ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
