The town of Tewksbury, in Massachusetts, paid a ransom of $500 in bitcoins to unlock a ransomware threat that locked down their systems.

It was not disclosed as to how their system became infected, but even with the help of the FBI, Homeland Security, Massachusetts State Police and private firms, they could not unlock their system. The police department's network was infected with a newer variant of CryptoLocker ransomware.


The police system was down for five days as they tried to unlock it. The attack occurred on Dec.7th, 2014 and was discovered the next day.

They could not use their backup because it was 18 months old. They are taking steps to ensure that this doesn't happen again.

Source: SCMagazine