The apparent, and still unknown, source of a cyberattack that shut down the city’s computer network and forced the closure of Augusta City Center for two days sought a ransom payment of more than $100,000 to unlock the frozen system.
Instead of paying the ransom, city officials — who as soon as they knew an attack was underway, literally pulled wires from devices as fast as they could to prevent the malicious software from spreading further through the system — decided they had the necessary data backed up, erased the city’s servers and set about restoring them.
“We did not pay the ransom,” Bridgeo said. “If the ransom was $250,000, I was committed to paying $500,000 to fighting it.”
full story at centralmaine.com
