Riviera Beach pays ransom, gets computers back

RIVIERA BEACH — One month and a $600,000 ransom later, government operations have largely returned to normal after a ransomware attack that paralyzed the city computer system and every department on which it depended.

The system went down May 29, after someone in the police department hooked a "phishing" email infected with coding that encrypted Riviera Beach computers that controlled everything from phones to email, water utility pump stations, employee paychecks, traffic citations and possibly — the city would not disclose it — police investigation documents.

The attack and the size of the payment the city council authorized its insurer to make, drew attention nationwide to Riviera Beach, the latest victim of a plague of such attacks, from state capitals to Florida burgs as small as Palm Springs, Stuart and Lake City.

Riviera Beach, a coastal city of 35,000 struggling to right its reputation after scandals toppled its mayor and four out of five council members, found itself featured again in an unsavory light on CNN, CBS, NPR and newspapers from The New York Times to The Wall Street Journal.

The Palm Beach Post reported that, although the city council authorized the purchase of a new computer security system for $798,419 on Feb. 20, the system still had not been installed by May 29, when hackers pierced the city's outdated software.

Over the past week, city officials reported their insurer had made the required payment of 65 bitcoins, the untraceable equivalent of about $600,000, and had received a decryption key. The city was on the hook for its deductible, or $25,000. Initial plans to accelerate purchase of new laptop and desktop computers were tabled, as the council decided instead to update that hardware in stages over the next few years, through its annual budget.

Most functions had returned, as the city's Information Technology staff used the key to regain access to data that had been beyond their grasp. That came as a comfort to many, as the FBI and cybersecurity experts nationwide said paying ransom did not guarantee results.

The city remained tight-lipped throughout the crisis, with officials explaining that the FBI, Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security were investigating.

Amid the national outcry, the city brought in an outside public relations team, which did not return messages.

tdoris@pbpost.com

@TonyDorisPBP