2. Riviera Beach, Florida
This small town north of West Palm Beach stunned the cyberworld this past spring when it paid in excess of $600,000 to restore the municipality’s systems from a ransomware campaign. The attack, which began on May 29 when a police department employee opened a malicious email attachment, ultimately disabled all of the city's online systems, including email, a water utility pumping station, some phones, and the ability to accept utility payments online or by credit card. In addition to the ransom payment, Riviera Beach moved the purchase of $900,000 in new computer hardware forward a year to replace infected systems.
Dark Reading reported the news on June 20.
Image Source: Adobe Stock: Ruth P. Peterkin