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Town will NOT pay ransom after malware infection

Written by James Delahunty @ 07 Jun 2014 6:20 User comments (7)

Town will NOT pay ransom after malware infection A New Hampshire town absolutely will not pay a ransom to recover files that were encrypted by raonsomware that infected systems at the police department.
Ransomware is a type of malware that attempts to force the victim into handing over a sum of money by holdings systems, or files hostage. Earlier this week, a US-led operation targeted the Cypertolocker ransomware that is estimated to have cost individuals and businesses around $30 million. The malware encrypts files in the background and demands a payment of 1 bitcoin to decrypt them, which could cost up to $600. If a fee isn't paid on time, the files can be destroyed forever.

The malware that infected the police department of Durham, New Hampshire, is not Cryptolocker, but a similar threat known as Cryptowall.

Accordin to Todd Selig, town manager, the infection started when a police officer opened an e-mail attachment that appeared legitimate. Luckily, the police department creates period backups of files and will restore as much as possible.



"Make no mistake, the Town of Durham will be paying no ransom," Selig is quoted by CBS Boston, as saying.

"This is why backups are essential -- we prepare for the worst, and hope for the best. But when the worst occurs, we are ready."

VIA: Ars Technica

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7 user comments

17.6.2014 18:24

ouch but also ironic at same time.

27.6.2014 18:25

Had this happen 3 times at my place. Had to work with my coworker for hours trying to determine the legitimacy of this. It's legit!

Locks up ALL FILES on the profile only. NOT THE ENTIRE MACHINE.

Word docs, excel, powerpoint, etc will all be encrypted and showing the need to download a "language converter".

It sucks but the creators suck even more and I hope they get executed sooner rather than later.


My advice people..........your data came into your computer fast and can be replaced fast so bite the bullet and delete out profile and chock up to a LOSS and don't complain as you will lose EVERYTHING in your profile.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 07 Jun 2014 @ 6:28

37.6.2014 19:14

I just back up my data as often as I can.
Other wise: it takes days to get it back on my own. (Terabytes)

47.6.2014 22:20

Where's Mel Gibson when you need him???

57.6.2014 23:00

Wow! Was that article hastily written or what? "raonsomware???" "Cypertolocker???" "by holdings systems???"

68.6.2014 00:02

This is why anything important never gets saved under my active profile, while anything else that I need which is; backed up periodically. The only attachment I usually ever open in my emails are ones I know I sent to myself anyhow; I reject all others.

78.6.2014 19:17

Perhaps they ought'a switch to linux if they're going to run an OS without a decent active firewall & antivirus

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