Alabama City Falls Victim
An unknown ransomware variant attacked an Alabama city, taking their operations offline. The City of Leeds systems were riddled with ransomware over a week ago. Computers within the fire and police departments were impacted. Although, officials stated emergency response was not impacted.
The city was demanded to make a payment of $12,000. After negotiating, the city agreed to pay the hackers $8,000 to unlock the files. According to WBRC News 6, the payment will come from insurance funds.
PC Matic never encourages victims to pay the ransom, for the following reasons:
- There is no guarantee you’ll get your files back
- You’re likely to become another target
- If you pay once, you’ll likely pay again
- Payments encourage the hackers to keep attacking people
Other Ransomware Attacks
For a list of ransomware attacks that have already taken place in 2018, you may click here. We have also created a map, see below, of the ransomware attacks that have taken place in the U.S.
