During Thanksgiving weekend 2016, workers at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) received a rude awakening about just how powerfully cybercrime can affect the "real" world.
On Nov. 26, the SFMTA discovered it was the victim of a malicious ransomware attack that froze all of its office computers, internal computer systems and computers inside station agent booths, where an ominous message flashed across computer monitors: "You Hacked. ALL data encrypted."
If that scenario sounds like fiction, it isn't. The perpetrator demanded the transit agency pay 100 bitcoin (about $73,000 in real-world funds) to have its system returned to normal. Ransomware attacks occur when a user unknowingly downloads the malicious software (or "malware") on their computer, control of which is then seized by the party who sent the ransomware. The ransom is then requested.
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