Riviera Beach computer shut down due to hacking; fix may cost $1 million

guest · Jun 7, 2019

Riviera Beach computer shut down due to hacking; fix may cost $1 million
June 4, 2019
https://www.wpbf.com/article/rivier...hacking-fix-may-cost-dollar1-million/27706400

During a special meeting called to address the city's complete computer shutdown, interim Information Technology Manager Justin Williams delivered the continuing bad news.
"As of right now, everything is down," Williams said, confirming that the problem is lasting longer than city officials predicted last week when the problem began early May 29.

All of the city's email and every department's computer system have been paralyzed since last Wednesday after what is just now being revealed as some type of hacking event.

"An email got in. Someone clicked on an email. There was an intrusion. As soon as we became aware of it, we went and locked everything down," said Williams in answer to a councilman's question.
Williams said the intrusion was so bad they could not risk turning any of the city's computers back on for fear of the virus spreading further.
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He also told the council it will take up to $1 million to buy new hardware and harden the system against future hacking, and that most of the city's computers are so old they are not worth salvaging.

Several residents demanded to know why the city doesn't have a cybersecurity policy already in place.

"This is devastation here, we can't operate, you can't operate. Where is that security cyber policy?" said Mary Bram.
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Riviera Beach computer outage will take weeks to fix, IT director says

guest · Jun 20, 2019

Riviera Beach agrees to $600,000 ransom payment to regain data access
June 19, 2019
https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/...ayment-to-regain-data-access-and-will-it-work

The Riviera Beach City Council authorized the city's insurer to pay nearly $600,000 worth of ransom to regain access to data walled off through an attack on the city's computer systems.

In a meeting Monday night announced only days before, the board voted 5-0 to authorize the city insurer to pay 65 bitcoins, a hard-to-track cryptocurrency valued at approximately $592,000. An additional $25,000 would come out of the city budget, to cover its policy deductible. Without discussion on the merits, the board tackled the agenda item in two minutes, voted and moved on.

"This whole thing is so new to me and so foreign and it’s almost where I can’t even believe that this happens but I’m learning that it’s not as uncommon as we would think it is," Riviera Beach Council Chairwoman KaShamba Miller-Anderson said Wednesday.
The city already planned to spend $300,000 for equipment replacements in the next budget and will accelerate that expense, Councilwoman Julie Botel said. Much of the existing hardware was a half-dozen years old and vulnerable to another malware attack, so it was time to replace it anyway, she said.
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Riviera Beach computer shut down due to hacking; fix may cost $1 million

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