Government services in Baltimore remain crippled by ransomware over two weeks after it the city was first attacked.

The attack involved RobbinHood ransomware, which spread throughout the city’s network, disabling systems ranging from payment services to police, the Department of Transport and closed-circuit television networks. The ransomware is estimated to have taken offline more than 10,000 government computers.

Those behind the ransomware attack are demanding a payment of 13 bitcoins, worth just shy of $100,000, for a decryption key. In a twist, suggesting that the attack was targeted rather than simply a random infection, the hackers are also saying that they will start deleting the ransomed files on the city’s network if the ransom isn’t paid.

Despite the inconvenience to residents, the city is refusing to pay the ransom while at the same time struggling to restore systems.

While taking an arguably moral stand, it would appear that the city was ill-prepared for the attack. Reports suggest some government services could remain offline for months.

“We [have] established a web-based incident command, shifted operations into manual mode and established other workarounds to facilitate the continued delivery of services to the public,” Baltimore Mayor Bernard Young said in a statement. “We continue to adjust and refine the delivery of those services that were only partly interrupted and to pursue ways to reactivate any services that were completely interrupted.”

Baltimore is not the first city to be targeted by ransomware and it won’t be the last. Atlanta was hit in March 2018 and three months later the city was still dealing with the consequences.

Joel Windels, chief marketing officer at NetMotion Software Inc., told SiliconANGLE that “investment in enterprise security technologies is thwarting more threats, so attackers are turning to easier targets such as public sector entities.

“Hospitals and government bodies are struggling to keep up with the latest developments in cybersecurity, particularly as new endpoints like mobile devices and their apps proliferate without adequate protection or oversight,” Windels said. “As Baltimore grapples to find the source of this particular attack, it is clear that more effort is needed to prevent these attacks from occurring.”

Photo: Marylandstater/Wikimedia Commons