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The Tennessee sheriff’s office paid $572 to a hacker according to official police spokesperson.
#Massachusetts police crypto locker Pc
Cryptolocker is a rather unpleasant strain of malware, first spotted in August, that encrypts documents on the infiltrated Windows PC and will throw away the decryption key unless a ransom is paid before a time limit. The ransom demanded is always in Bitcoins.ĭuring the past year, police in Detroit and a sheriff’s office in Tennessee were also hit by hackers who demanded ransoms in exchange for returning access to law enforcement files. Massachusetts cops have admitted paying a ransom to get their data back on an official police computer infected with the devilish Cryptolocker ransomware. The hackers generally use social engineering and spear phishing methods to enter into the police database and unleash the ransomware. The hacking and encrypting with ransomware of Police departments has been a regular feature in United States. Here also the police paid $500 in Bitcoins to unknown hackers decrypt the database. A local police department in Swansea, Massachusetts, has paid cybercrooks behind the CryptoLocker ransomware attack to decrypt files locked up by the malware on police computer systems, according to local press reports. Tewksbury spent several days working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security, Massachusetts State Police, and two digital forensics and security firms to regain access to their data without paying the ransom.Īfter failing to restore the files to their original form, officials decided to pay the ransom, while also beefing up their cybersecurity to thwart future hacking attempts. One of their most dangerous techniques is Crypto Locker ransomware that locks down all your hard drives until you pay up.