2 SPECIAL EDITION Ransomware Demands Plaguing American Cities

There are stories aplenty about the cyber crime of our era: ransomware hackers making demands of cities and towns throughout America.  In exchange for cryptocurrency, the hackers will unencrypted data needed to run your municipality.  You’re the mayor: what do you do?  Taxes can’t be collected, bills can’t be paid, payrolls can’t be met in this environment.  Then, there are impacts on essential services like fire, EMS and police.  The whole issue has many implications and we explore them, in depth, with Dr. Frederick Scholl the Cybersecurity Program Director and Professor at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut.  It’s a crime for which often there is no retribution.  Some hackers say they have been able to retire already having made so much money from their attacks and having gone undetected.  While we discuss why this is affecting so many public agencies, we also look at computer protection hygiene which must be practiced to avoid falling victim to this growing trend in your personal life and business.  Sadly, even if towns and cities get their data back after shelling out what often is insurance money, they find that some data has been corrupted and is unusable when retrieved..  We also share the example of New Bedford, Massachusetts where the cybersecurity world watched in awe as they smartly dealt with the issue when forced to confront it.

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