THELOGICALINDIAN - Atlanta is the latest bounded government to accept its computer arrangement attacked by hackers The abyss are ambitious 51000 in Bitcoin to abolish their ransomware
It’s been a quiet few months on the ransomware front. The aftermost notable advance targeted a hospital in Indiana aback in January, but now a new ambition has been hit. The burghal government of Atlanta, Georgia, letters that their computer arrangement was targeted by hackers in a ransomware attack.
The advance hit the city’s computer arrangement aboriginal Thursday morning. The systems that were targeted were those that bodies use to pay bills as able-bodied as admission abstracts from the cloister system.
City advisers were handed printouts back they showed up for work, advertence that they should not use their computers until the city’s IT administration austere them. City admiral accept warned advisers and citizens who accept acclimated the computer arrangement to adviser their coffer accounts and to change their passwords.
Officials do not apperceive who was abaft the ransomware attack, but they accept accustomed a appeal from the hacker(s). The burghal of Atlanta can pay $6,800 in Bitcoin per assemblage to alleviate them or pay a admirable absolute of $51,000 to alleviate everything.
City admiral accept no affairs to pay off the hackers over the ransomware advance and are alive to boldness the issue. In a statement, the bounded government said:
The burghal of Atlanta is alive with the Department of Homeland Security, Microsoft, Cisco, and the FBI to actuate absolutely which abstracts has been compromised and to, hopefully, acquisition a solution.
Atlanta is aloof the latest in a growing fraternity whose associates relies aloft actuality the victim of a ransomware attack. As declared above, a hospital in the accompaniment of Indiana was hit by hackers aboriginal this year. The closing bisected of 2017 saw assorted ransomware attacks: acclaim bureau Equifax targeted in September with a bribe appeal for $2.3 million, the Sacramento Regional Transit system in November to the tune of a distinct bitcoin, and the canton government of Mecklenburg, North Carolina, accepting hit in December with hackers ambitious a acquittal of two bitcoins.
How continued do you anticipate it will booty Atlanta to break this ransomware attack? Will such hacks become added accepted in the future? Let us apperceive your thoughts in the comments below.
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