The first publicized ransomware attack appears to have taken place in the small town of Belle Fourche, South Dakota.\u00a0 On January 4th, officials reported two of Belle Fourche’s city hall computers were inoperable after ransomware had infiltrated the system.\u00a0 Neither the ransomware variant, nor the ransom demands have been released.\u00a0 Although, it has been reported<\/a> the ransom demands were not paid.\u00a0 Instead the Belle Fourche city’s IT department was able to restore the devices using backup files.<\/p>\n This is the second malware infection the city has faced over the last month.\u00a0 In December, city residents received malicious emails allegedly from the city office claiming they had an overdue statement.\u00a0 The city denies ever sending this correspondence.\u00a0 It is unclear how many citizens opened this email, or what kind of malware then riddled their systems.<\/p>\n We have created a map, see below, of the ransomware attacks that have taken place in the U.S.Other Ransomware Attacks<\/h4>\n
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