US city pays ransom again after ransomware infection

Another US city has paid a ransom after a ransomware infection. The city of Lake City is paying criminals 42 bitcoins for unlocking infected computer systems after they stopped working for two weeks.

Lake City in Florida is the second US city in a short time to decide to pay the ransom after an infection. Earlier this month, the city of Riviera Beach was also hit by ransomware. The city of Lake City fell victim to a ransomware infection two weeks ago, local media reported. As a result, computer and telephone systems cannot be used. This mainly concerns the municipality; the police and fire brigade were not affected, as was the case in Riviera Beach before.

According to the mayor of the city, the IT department tried to remove the ransomware, but was unsuccessful. Initially, no ransom demand was sent to the municipality. It was sent to the municipality’s insurer a week after the infection. He negotiated with the criminals and came to an agreement to pay 42 bitcoins. At the time of the infection, that was just over 405,000 euros. The municipality itself has to pay the deductible, which amounts to 8800 euros.

It is not known whether the municipality has now got the computer systems working again. The mayor says the city is working with experts to set up a new system that can no longer be hit by a similar attack.