Florida City Pays Ransomware Hackers
Return To ArticleLake City isn’t the first local government to pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars to hackers over ransomware, and it’s not likely to be the last. The northern Florida city said Tuesday that it would be paying hackers up to $460,000 in bitcoin to recover its computer systems.
This comes days after Riviera Beach, a Florida city more than 300 miles away, announced that it would be paying hackers up to $600,000 to recover from a ransomware attack.
Lake City’s computer systems had been down for at least two weeks, as malware seeped through the local government’s network and locked down computers, holding them hostage unless officials paid the price. The city first disclosed the attack on June 10, noting that all city emails were down, as were landline phones.
