The United States Conference of Mayors has promised that its members will “stand united” against paying ransoms in case their systems are hit by ransomware.
The organization represents over 1,400 mayors from U.S. cities with a population of at least 30,000. At its 87th annual meeting, members adopted many resolutions, including a couple on cybersecurity. One of them is related to ransomware attacks targeted at local governments.
According to the organization, at least 170 city, county or state government systems have been hit by ransomware since 2013. Twenty-two incidents were reported this year, including by Garfield County in Utah, Jackson County in Georgia, Fisher in Texas, Genesee in Michigan, and the cities of Baltimore and Albany.
Some of the impacted entities, such as the City of Atlanta, have refused to pay the ransom — in the case of Atlanta it was a little over $50,000 — and ended up spending tens of millions of dollars on recovery. Others have decided to pay up. This includes Jackson County ($400,000 paid), West Haven in Connecticut ($2,000 paid), Riviera Beach in Florida ($600,000 paid), and Lake City in Florida ($460,000 paid).
The Conference of Mayors has admitted that ransomware attacks can result in the loss of millions of dollars and months of work to repair damage, but highlighted that paying the attackers only “encourages continued attacks on other government systems, as perpetrators financially benefit.”
In an effort to disincentivize these attacks, the organization’s members have vowed not to pay ransoms in the event of a cyberattack.
The mayors have also urged Congress to pass the State Cyber Resiliency Act, which would provide grants to state and local governments to help support the development and implementation of cyber resiliency plans.
Related: Eurofins Scientific Paid Up in Response to Ransomware Attack
Related: Aircraft Parts Maker ASCO Severely Hit by Ransomware
Related: Ransomware Attack Costs Norsk Hydro Tens of Millions of Dollars
Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a contributing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.
More from Eduard Kovacs
- Siemens License Manager Vulnerabilities Allow ICS Hacking
- CISA Releases Open Source Recovery Tool for ESXiArgs Ransomware
- ICS Cybersecurity Firm Opscura Launches With $9.4 Million in Series A Funding
- Patch Released for Actively Exploited GoAnywhere MFT Zero-Day
- VMware Says No Evidence of Zero-Day Exploitation in ESXiArgs Ransomware Attacks
- Critical Baicells Device Vulnerability Can Expose Telecoms Networks to Snooping
- SecurityWeek Analysis: Over 450 Cybersecurity M&A Deals Announced in 2022
- VMware ESXi Servers Targeted in Ransomware Attack via Old Vulnerability
Latest News
- Skybox Security Raises $50M, Hires New CEO
- Spies, Hackers, Informants: How China Snoops on the US
- Australian Man Sentenced for Scam Related to Optus Hack
- Chrome 110 Patches 15 Vulnerabilities
- Application Security Protection for the Masses
- Tor Network Under DDoS Pressure for 7 Months
- Siemens License Manager Vulnerabilities Allow ICS Hacking
- UN Experts: North Korean Hackers Stole Record Virtual Assets
