A city in trouble: is ransomware here to stay?

Since the beginning of May, Baltimore has been crippled by a huge ransomware attack that has held many of the city’s IT systems hostage. The attack has ‘shut down’ thousands of government computers, causing everything from water bill payment disruptions to  real estate sales delays.

The hackers behind this have demanded 13 bitcoins — worth about $100,000 – in order to restore these critical IT systems. Baltimore City Mayor, Jack Young, has publicly stated that the city will not pay the ransom demand. But even though the FBI, Secret Service and a host of cybersecurity experts are working hard to restore things, new reports indicate the attack will ultimately cost the city more than $18 million.

A couple of weeks ago, a Krebs on Security post quoted a source who said “it’s not terribly likely” that the Eternal Blue exploit