[2015-04-09] CS - Paying the Bitcoin Ransom Was the Last Resort

[kaegmo]

Tewksbury Police Department decided to pay a $500 Bitcoin ransom to regain access to a police server.

http://www.coinspeaker.com/2015/04/09/paying-the-bitcoin-ransom-was-the-last-resort-says-tewksbury-police-chief-8623/

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[drizzt]

People should learn to backup and to NOT click executable mail attachments

[Kaneki]

It can affect people's confidence to Bitcoin, in fact this error occurs because the user is not careful against all incoming email.

[Slunt]

It was only $500? Usually they seem to demand much more than that. Sometimes paying the ransom does nothing though and yoiu get scammed on that too. I think paying it opens them up to being targeted again if they're known to pay up.

It can affect people's confidence to Bitcoin, in fact this error occurs because the user is not careful against all incoming email.

Nothing we can really do about that but peoples opinion and confidence will be regained over time.

[twister]

It can affect people's confidence to Bitcoin, in fact this error occurs because the user is not careful against all incoming email.

No, I don't know how Bitcoin is to be blamed here or that it should affect people's confidence in Bitcoin, It was just a malware attack by hackers and it has happened before. In-fact this should be taken as a wake up call that institutions who have important data should think about their cyber security and apart from they should understand the importance of making off-line backups.

What if this was not a ransom-ware but just a real nasty virus that instead of locking the files just destroyed them, who should have been blamed then? the hackers, right?

So as I said it's just that they need to learn to take cyber security seriously and take back-ups regularly to avoid things like this happening in future.

[drizzt]

Before using bitcoin malwares like cryptolocker used to use ukash, money transfer, etc.
Bitcoin only have less fees and risks

[Ludi]

Before using bitcoin malwares like cryptolocker used to use ukash, money transfer, etc.
Bitcoin only have less fees and risks

Yeah. I'm sure they've even used Paypal before. Unfortunately the benefits of bitcoin are also benefits to criminals and bitcoin is a perfect medium for scammers to use on these sorts of scams. I guess all people can do is protect themselves better from malware and make sure to regulary back up files.

[bryant.coleman]

It can affect people's confidence to Bitcoin, in fact this error occurs because the user is not careful against all incoming email.

It is not Bitcoin's fault that the cops failed to install a quality anti-virus software in their system. But I am sure that bankers are going to take this opportunity and make use of it in the ongoing propaganda war against crypto.

[Bit_Happy]

"Blame Bitcoin First" is official policy in the Land of The Free. Soon they will be telling us "Bitcoin is out of money" (LOL?), simply because the Foundation of Criminals is running short on funds.

[unamis76]

The usual stuff, and something I've been saying everytime news like these appear here: These kinds of institutions take shortcuts in building their systems... This + people without the proper knowledge + not wanting to hire a technician is a recipe for hacks and other disaster.

[pitham1]

It can affect people's confidence to Bitcoin, in fact this error occurs because the user is not careful against all incoming email.

It is not Bitcoin's fault that the cops failed to install a quality anti-virus software in their system. But I am sure that bankers are going to take this opportunity and make use of it in the ongoing propaganda war against crypto.

In this case, the cops clearly are at fault.
They should have exercised some basic precautions. They must be sent to a refresher IT training course again. 

[Kprawn]

$500 for a ransom, sound like kids playing around in the park... Script kiddies at work. The FBI will give them rope to hang themselves...

They will allow this to happen, to trace their origin... and the NSA will gather the data.

The Tor network on exit nodes will reveal their identity and they will get busted soon... mark my words.

It's one thing, when you target soft targets like schools... it's another thing, when you target law enforcement agencies. This will be seen as a terrorist attack, and be dealt with extreme penalties.

This is also bad publicity for the whole Bitcoin community, and should be frowned on.   

[bryant.coleman]

In this case, the cops clearly are at fault.
They should have exercised some basic precautions. They must be sent to a refresher IT training course again. 

The cops don't care. The $500 ransom was not paid from their pockets. It was taxpayer money. When the cops will be held responsible for their actions, they will act more carefully.