North Carolina county refuses to pay $26,000 RANSOM to foreign hackers who have shut down government websites and says they will rebuild the system
Cyber criminals attacked the online database of the Mecklenberg County government
The hackers demanded two bitcoins, or $23,000, to unlock the systems
But County Manager Dena Diorio decided not to pay the ransome and said IT will work to restore anyformation lost from backups
By ABIGAIL MILLER
DAILYMAIL.COM
8 December 2017
Cyber criminals overtook the government websites in a county in North Carolina on Thursday after the county manager refused to pay the hacker’s ransom.
The criminals first attacked the Mecklenberg County government on Tuesday, demanding a ransom of more than $20,000, according to the Charlotte Observer.
But instead of paying the criminals, County Manager Dena Diorio said Wednesday that they will just rebuild the system and restore any lost information from backups.
Then on Thursday afternoon the hackers tried to strike again – forcing Diorio to email staffers about a ‘new warning for employees.’
The county’s IT staff was working to recover files from the first attack Thursday when they discovered follow-up attempts to compromise computers and data.
‘To limit the possibility of a new infection, ITS is disabling employees’ ability to open attachments generated by DropBox and Goodle Documents,’ Diorio wrote in an email to staffers.
The Rest…HERE
