Ransomware attacks have crippled many municipal and corporate networks and created difficult choices on whether to pay the hackers to unlock data
City services in Baltimore, Maryland, were paralyzed earlier this year when a ransomware attack locked up computer networks and made it impossible for residents to make property transactions or pay their municipal bills.
Officials refused to meet hacker demands for a ransom of $76,000 to unlock the systems, but have been saddled with an estimated $18 million in costs of restoring and rebuilding the city's computer networks.
The dilemma in Baltimore and in a similar case in Atlanta a year earlier highlight tough choices faced by cities, hospitals and corporations hit by ransomware, which can shut down critical services for organizations with dated or vulnerable computer networks.
Two Florida cities reportedly paid a total of $1 million in ransom this year, after which a new attack by the same group hit the state court system in Georgia.
Globally, losses from ransomware rose by 60 percent last year to $8 billion, according to data compiled by the Internet Society's Online Trust Alliance.
At least 170 county, city or state government systems have been hit since 2013, with 22 incidents this year, according to the US Conference of Mayors, which adopted a resolution opposing ransomware payments.
"We're seeing more attacks against cities because it's clear cities are ill-prepared, and even if they know what's going on they don't have the funds to fix it," said Gregory Falco, a researcher at Stanford University specializing in municipal network security.
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