https://www.centralmaine.com/2019/04/28/augusta-cyber-attacker-sought-more-than-100k-in-ransom/
By Keith Edwards
Kennebec Journal
April 28, 2019
AUGUSTA -- The apparent, and still unknown, source of a cyberattack that shut
down the city's computer network and forced the closure of Augusta City Center
for two days sought a ransom payment of more than $100,000 to unlock the frozen
system.
Instead of paying the ransom, city officials - who as soon as they knew an
attack was underway, literally pulled wires from devices as fast as they could
to prevent the malicious software from spreading further through the system -
decided they had the necessary data backed up, erased the city's servers and
set about restoring them.
City Manager William Bridgeo told city councilors Thursday that the attack was
ransomware - software from a creator who seeks to get them to pay up to have it
removed from their systems - and included an offer to unlock the system if
Augusta paid a ransom "in the six figures."
"We did not pay the ransom," Bridgeo said. "If the ransom was $250,000, I was
committed to paying $500,000 to fighting it."
Fred Kahl, director of information technology, said if the city paid the ransom
it may not have even fixed the problem.
[...]
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