US city pays 534,000 euros ransom after ransomware attack

A US municipality in Florida has paid 65 bitcoins to recover computer systems held hostage after a ransomware attack. That currently amounts to about 534,000 euros. The city of Riviera Beach was hit by the ransomware three weeks ago.

The Riviera Beach Police Department was hit by ransomware in late May, which was sent in an email containing an infected document. Since then, the city has been completely offline, reports The New York Times, among others.

The city council has now chosen to pay 65 bitcoins in ransom. At the current rate, that’s about 534,000 euros. In addition to the ransom amount, the city council also approved the purchase of new hardware last week, which was already planned earlier. The city is buying 310 new desktops, 90 laptops, and a number of new servers and other systems for a total of $941,000, or about $834,000. About 265,000 euros is reimbursed by the city’s insurance.

Cities and government agencies are increasingly becoming victims of ransomware. They are often easier to infect and victims are more willing to pay higher amounts. Earlier this year, the major US city of Baltimore was also hit by ransomware. In that case, the directors chose not to pay. Replacing all computer systems there already costs more than eighteen million euros.