| Story Views | |
| Now: | |
| Last Hour: | |
| Last 24 Hours: | |
| Total: | |
The Melrose Police Station (MA) got hit by the ransomware virus and paid to hackers.
Cyber-criminals encrypted the data files and filched the decryption key. The police department couldn’t use its TriTech software system to log incident reports. Hackers demanded one Bitcoin (~$490) Chief Michael Lyle said. The department had to pay the ransom.
To infect the TriTech system, hackers just sent an email to The Melrose Police Station. Their message contained a malicious attachment. The message was addressed to the entire department. Someone opened the message and clicked on the attachment launching the virus attack. After that, it was not possible to log incident reports.
The police officers cooperated with Melrose IT Director Jorge Pazos to buy a Bitcoin. The police sent the Bitcoin to fraudsters. Fortunately, hackers returned the key necessary to regaining control of the system. It was up and running on Saturday, February the 27th.
The Melrose Police did not incur any data loss. Officers put all log entries and incident reports into Word documents until the hack was resolved, said Lt. Mark DeCroteau.
Additionally, they booked arrested parties on paper, added Lt. DeCroteau. Other data systems used to search criminal history, and outstanding warrants were not touched by the virus.
This is not the first time the Police departments in Massachusetts pay money to hackers. The Swansea Police was blitzed by Cyrptolocker and paid $750 in November 2013. And the Tewksbury Police faced the same type of attack in December 2014. They paid a $500 Bitcoin ransom.
It is strange such important computer systems do not have sufficient backup procedures. It is also hard to believe no data was stolen. Hackers planted a virus and managed to manipulate database files while communicating with their own Command and Control servers. Encryption keys were sent back and forth. Other data could be sent too.
