Hackers seized database from City of Detroit, demanded $800k in bitcoin

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://rt.com/usa/206663-detroit-bitcoin-ransom-database/

RT.com
November 19, 2014

Hackers seized a digital database from the city of Detroit earlier this 
year and then demanded they receive a ransom in bitcoin, Mayor Mike Duggan 
said this week, but the city balked and ultimately the hijackers were 
unsuccessful with their request.

Duggan, who was elected last year to lead the Motor City after a 
headline-making bankruptcy filing, explained at a conference on Monday 
this week that hackers had asked for hundreds of thousands of dollars in 
cryptocurrency after compromising a city database back in April. The 
pilfered database wasn’t used or needed by the city, however, The Detroit 
News reported, so the ransom was never paid.

Speaking at the North American International Cyber Summit, Duggan said the 
incident from earlier this year made him realize that sensitive 
information needs to be stored more securely.

“It was a good warning sign for us,” he told his audience at the 
conference, Detroit News journalist Holly Foumier reported.

[...]

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