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The city of Grass Valley is one of the latest victims of a ransomware attack. The operators of the ransomware attack informed the city officials that they had obtained data from city systems and threatened to post it on the web if the city doesn’t pay a ransom. Surprisingly, the city officials decided to pay the ransom.
“I think everyone’s a target. We’re not supposed to negotiate with terrorists – it emboldens them,” said Matthew Coulter, a Grass Valley resident who clearly wasn’t happy by the decision taken by the city officials.
According to Grass Valley police, they were left with no choice after the perpetrators contacted them in late June and threatened to publish the stolen data. The copied data allegedly included information on people or businesses that had conversations with various Grass Valley systems, including law enforcement.
“If we didn’t pay a small ransom and that data was dumped on the world wide web, then all of the people that we interacted with would be at risk of identity theft, loss of privacy, et cetera. One of the factors that weighed heavily for the city council was if this was something we could do to protect the people that we serve,” said Grass Valley attorney Michael Colatuono.
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Read the original article: City Officials of Grass Valley Negotiates with the Handlers of Ransomware Attack