Cyber criminals who have forced U.S. hospitals, schools and cities
to pay hundreds of millions in blackmail or see their computer files
destroyed are now targeting the unlikeliest group of victims — local
police departments.
Eastern European hackers are hitting law
enforcement agencies nationwide with so-called "ransomware" viruses that
seize control of a computer system's files and encrypt them. The
hackers then hold the files hostage if the victims don't pay a ransom
online with untraceable digital currency known as Bitcoins. They try to
maximize panic with the elements of a real-life hostage crisis,
including ransom notes and countdown clocks.
If a ransom is paid, the victim gets an emailed
"decryption key" that unlocks the system. If the victim won't pay, the
hackers threaten to delete the files, which they did last year to
departments in Alabama and New Hampshire. That means evidence from open
cases could be lost or altered, and violent criminals could go free.
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