Ransomware Attack Will Cost Baltimore City $18M, Councilmember Says
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The ransomware attack on Baltimore City's government will cost the city more than $18 million, council member Isaac "Yitzy" Schleifer said.
Additional services may soon be restored. Mayor Jack Young said the city is now working to restore email and computer access to city employees.
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The attack had forced city staff to find different ways to conduct business, from using Gmail for email to a manual workaround for real estate transactions.
Earlier this week, Baltimore City officials looked to Fort Meade for answers and accountability, blaming the NSA for the breach.
Thursday, the NSA fired back at Baltimore City leaders. NSA Senior Advisor for Cybersecurity Strategy Rob Joyce said that vulnerabilities will continue to be found.
"Focusing on a single exploit, especially one that has a solution through a patch that was issued years ago is really short-sighted," Joyce said. "Vulnerabilities will continue to be found. Doing the basics is required for responsible network administration."
A patch that was released two years ago protects against vulnerabilities, but cities that did not update its Window Systems stayed at risk.
Mayor Young believes that became the access point for hackers to take Baltimore's computer systems hostage.
"We're talking to our federal delegation to try to get some financial support from D.C. because of where it originated from," Young said.
Mayor Young said that paying ransom is still not an option.