Are we just one virus away from a major meltdown?

Maine police departments pay hackers to unlock computer system

http://www.pressherald.com/2015/04/10/police-departments-pay-hackers-to-unlock-computer-system/

Police departments in midcoast and northern Maine said they have paid ransom to hackers to keep their computer files from being destroyed, WCSH-TV reported Friday night.The Portland station said the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and four towns paid $300 to the hackers after a virus, called a “megacode,” was downloaded on a computer system they share. Lincoln County Sheriff Todd Bracket said that the computer system was unusable until the fee was paid, and that the hackers claimed the program, called “ransomware,” would wipe the entire computer system clean if the fee wasn’t paid. The creator of the virus gave the sheriff’s office a code to unlock the computer system after the money was received. The county paid in bitcoins, an online currency.“We needed our programs to get back online,” said Damariscotta Police Chief Ron Young. “That was a choice we all discussed and took to get back online to get our information.”Brackett told WCSH that the FBI tracked the payment to a Swiss bank account, but no further.

Last edited by Common Sense (4/12/2015 9:19 am)