One important tool in the police's arsenal is their computers. Without their database, most police forces won't have the ability to track and manage their criminals. However, some hackers have determined that they can hold a police station's computer station hostage and make money from it.
The police department of Tewksbury, Mass. "fell prey to a string of recent 'ransomware' attacks, where hackers trick victims into downloading software that actually encrypts every file on their computers with only the hackers having the decryption key," NextShark reported.
The incident began after Tewksbury officers reported having some difficulties accessing the local files, The Boston Globe reported. The department eventually called in a specialist, who was not able to break the encryption. After a while, a notification appeared on the screen.
"Your personal files are encrypted," it read. "File decryption costs ~ $500......If you really value your data, then we suggest you do not waste valuable time searching for other solutions because they do not exist."
A number of specialists, government officials and experts from private security firms attempted to break into the file's encryption, but no one was able to break it. After five days of fighting the system, the Tewksbury police department gave in and paid the $500 ransom.
How did the hackers get into the system? "Hackers try to sneak encryption programs onto unsuspecting computers under program names like KeyHolder, CryptoLocker and CryptoWall. The programs can get onto computers when victims click on hyperlinks from tainted email," according to NextShark.
Tewksbury is far from the first department to be affected by this. Hackers from Anonymous attempted to attack and capture a series of computers from the Ferguson police department after Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown, but failed to take control of them. The Swansea police department were also afflicted by a similar set of "ransomware" in 2013, and had to pay the hackers $750 to get access to their files.
As successful cases like this occur, it's likely that hackers will continue to attempt to insert ransomware onto government and police computers and look for ways to hold their data ransom.
If police departments wish to avoid such a crisis, they will need to make sure they have a backup of the files available and saved at all times.
