City of Atlanta Security Incident

The cyber attack that struck the City of Atlanta in March could cost taxpayers as much as $17 million, according to a report obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News. The seven-page document marked confidential and privileged identifies roughly $6 million in existing contracts along with an additional $11 million in potential costs associated with the March 22 attack. It is breathtaking in that theyre having to do a complete overhaul, Don Hunt, a professor at Georgia State Universitys Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, told Channel 2. Theyve been very busy the past few months. The report does not disclose who authored it, nor does it make clear how much of the expenses the city would have incurred regardless of the attack. But with a potential figure of $17 million, Atlantas ransomware attack is one of the more expensive suffered by any local government in the U.S. in 2018. Credit: Rodney Ho Credit: Rodney Ho By comparison, a ransomware attack against Colorados Department of Transportation earlier this year is expected to cost $2 million. "We are pleased with the progress of the recovery efforts. In addition to responding to the criminal attack against the City of Atlanta, we are using this opportunity to make the City more secure," said a spokesperson in an email. "Unfortunately, in today's world, governments are seeing an increase in cyber attacks As you already know, the City is insured against cyber-attack. We continue to work through that process for the most cost-effective outcome for our residents." In March, city employees were told to shut off their computers to stop a virus from spreading through the network and encrypting data. A cyber criminal group demanded that the city pay it about $51,000 in bitcoins a crypto currency that allows for anonymous transactions online. The city refused to pay the ransom. For weeks the watershed department could only accept payments at City Hall, and the citys municipal court had no...

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