It 's been a week since hackers launched a ransomware attack Attack.Ransom against the city of Atlanta , and local officials are still grappling with its effects . `` We are dealing with a hostage situation , '' Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said in a statement . On Thursday , municipal courts were closed again and residents were unable to pay their traffic tickets or water bills online . In some cases , employees had to fill out urgent forms and reports by hand , CNN reported . The city allowed its employees to turn on their work computers and printers for the first time on Wednesday , although officials warned that some computers may still be affected . In a ransomware attack, Attack.Ransom hackers place malware on a computer — or system of computers — that restricts access , and then d emand payment Attack.Ransom to undo it . The culprits h ave demanded Attack.Ransom the city of Atlanta p ay Attack.Ransom them $ 51,000 in bitcoin to unlock the government 's encrypted systems . Bottoms would not say whether the city would meet their request . Atlanta officials — along with local law enforcement , the FBI , the Department of Homeland Security , and Secret Service — are said to be working round-the-clock on the matter to investigate whether any government data or anybody 's personal information w as compromised. Attack.Databreach An information portal has been set up on the city government 's website to keep residents and employees updated on the latest developments of the hack . Officials from Atlanta Information Management , the city 's technology department , realized the city had been attacked on March 22 . As a result , officials said , `` some city data is encrypted and customers are not able to access city applications . '' This has mostly prevented people from using online applications to pay bills and access court-related information . Although Atlanta officials have not yet identified those behind the attack , an Atlanta-based security firm called Dell SecureWorks , which is helping the city investigate the attack , pointed to a group called SamSam , according to The New York Times . It is not clear who is part of the group or where it is based . On Monday , Mayor Bottoms held a news conference to reassure the public that the city was doing everything in its power to restore its systems , but cautioned people against taking the matter lightly . `` I just want to make the point that this is much bigger than a ransomware attack, Attack.Ransom `` Bottoms said . `` This is really an attack on our government , which means it 's an attack on all of us . ''

If any students or teachers logged on to social media or opened their email inbox using certain computers at Carleton University in Canada 's capital city of Ottawa recently , their every keystroke w as likely recorded Attack.Databreach by an unknown hacker . According to an emailed statement , the university discovered USB sticks loaded with what 's known as `` keylogger '' software on computers in six classrooms during a routine inspection . Keylogger software i ntercepts Attack.Databreach the commands a keyboard sends to your computer , l ogging Attack.Databreach the keystrokes that make up your passwords and messages . A university spokesperson would n't clarify when the discovery was made . According to the university , the USB keyloggers in question would have required someone to physically pick them up in order to access any data they recorded , and there 's no evidence that someone ever came by . `` These computers are used solely for instructional purposes in classrooms and do not store any university , personal or confidential information , '' an emailed statement from Carleton University stated . `` We have no evidence that any information w as retrieved Attack.Databreach from these devices or that any university data w ere compromised. Attack.Databreach `` Even so , it 's a concerning state of affairs for students and teachers , who may use instructional computers for personal correspondence or professional obligations at the school . Carleton was the victim of a ransomware attack Attack.Ransom in November of last year , which locked down dozens of computers that would only unlock if the university p aid a ransom Attack.Ransom in bitcoin . `` I do n't think at this point there 's been any formal link between these two events , '' said Steven Reid , a university spokesperson , in an interview . `` An investigation is ongoing into the keylogger incident , but nothing specific related to anything in the past . '' Even though there 's no evidence that the hacker got a chance to come collect the goods , it 's probably a great idea for any Carleton students to change their passwords right about now

The spread of ransomware means government and critical infrastructure providers need to start gaming out responses , cyber watchers say . A cadre of shadowy criminal hackers seizes control of an energy plant . They give themselves administrator privileges and lock the genuine administrators out along with everyone else . Then , they threaten to trigger a major leak or explosion if the plant owners don ’ t p ay up: Attack.Ransom $ 50 million in bitcoin . The story sounds like a fantastical Hollywood plot . It ’ s basically a digital-age riff on the 1965 James Bond Film “ Thunderball ” and the 1997 spoof “ Austin Powers : International Man of Mystery. ” Yet , following a surge in r ansomware attacks— Attack.Ransom in which hackers seize and lock an organization ’ s data and networks and only unlock them for a hefty fee—cyber watchers are beginning to fear this plot could become reality . “ What ransomware does is it creates a business model [ in which ] anybody who has money can potentially b e extorted to pay, Attack.Ransom ” McAfee Chief Technology Officer Steve Grobman told reporters during a roundtable discussion Thursday at McAfee ’ s Security Through Innovation Summit . “ There ’ s no reason not to think that criminals will see government assets like critical infrastructure as a target they can h old for ransom, Attack.Ransom ” Grobman added . If hackers were able to seize the controls of a critical infrastructure asset such as a dam or airport where they could cause major property destruction and loss of life , t he ransom demand Attack.Ransom could be huge , Grobman said , and there ’ s a good chance the asset owner or the government w ould have to pay up. Attack.Ransom Critical infrastructure is an official designation the Homeland Security Department uses to refer to 16 sectors such as chemical plants and financial firms whose physical and digital security is vital for national security and public safety . McAfee has been tracking r ansomware attacks Attack.Ransom for years as they progressed from e xtorting Attack.Ransom $ 100 or $ 200 from individuals who clicked the wrong link to “ soft targets ” such as hospitals , universities and police stations to some of the major global corporations the antivirus firm counts among its customers . There ’ s no reason to think government agencies or critical infrastructure providers won ’ t be next on the list , he said . John Felker , director of the DHS ’ main cybersecurity nerve center , the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center , shares Grobman ’ s concerns . “ What Steve is seeing is on the front edge of what is going on , [ so ] we do need to have some concern . I ’ m probably going to have a chat with the folks at the fort about that , ” he said during the same roundtable , referring to the National Security Agency ’ s home in Fort Meade , Maryland . While r ansomware attacks Attack.Ransom against local governments are a common problem across the globe , NCCIC has not been called in on a ransomware attack Attack.Ransom against the federal government that threatened major destruction , Felker said . When it comes to critical infrastructure , the major cyber fear has typically been an attack by an adversary nation or terrorist group looking to cause destruction and mayhem . For traditional criminal hackers interested in s tealing Attack.Databreach marketable information such as credit card numbers , these targets held little interest . Industrial systems such as dams are further protected because they operate using comparatively obscure industrial control systems not typically in the wheelhouse of hackers used to manipulating consumer software . For ransomware attackers , however , industrial targets could prove lucrative because a hacker that controlled them would have the power to unleash terrible consequences if t he ransom wasn’t paid, Attack.Ransom Grobman said , such as opening that New York dam ’ s floodgates . Criminals also operate with a different calculus than nation-states , which makes them more difficult to deter , Grobman said . The Justice Department has indicted hackers linked to the Chinese and Iranian governments , which caused public embarrassment . The Obama administration also sanctioned North Korean officials for the Sony Pictures Entertainment hack and Russian officials for meddling in the 2016 election . Then-President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden also insinuated the government took covert actions against Russia for that meddling . A criminal or criminal group that didn ’ t expect to be caught , however , would be less susceptible to public embarrassment , immune to diplomatic pressure and much more difficult to target with covert action . The remedy , Grobman said , is for the government and critical infrastructure providers to plan ahead , both by securing their systems and gaming out how they would respond to a ransomware attack. Attack.Ransom “ How do we get the defenses in place before the breach occurs , ” he said , “ so we don ’ t have the consequences that we saw in things like [ the Office of Personnel Management breach ] where , because we didn ’ t invest in the security up front , the cost of the breach was significantly higher . ”