$7-$10K Ransom Request Refused by Municipal Ontario Government

On June 30th, hackers exploited a network vulnerability to access the government’s system infecting it with ransomware that cut off access to vital services. While many services were restored within days, government employees still cannot access their email accounts. Officials are refusing to pay the $7,000 to $10,000 ransom payment, and they are attempting to restore services using other measures. Even so, recovering from the attack won’t come cheap as the cost of restoring infrastructure combined with downtime/business opportunity cost is almost always more expensive than paying a ransom.

There are no ideal solutions for combating a ransomware attack once it takes hold. Therefore, every organization should make defense a top priority. While this includes many elements, advanced knowledge of compromised credentials can give organizations the opportunity to make adjustments before an attack, saving time, money, and customer data all at once.