are met . Washington 's chief technology officer said that no ransom was paidAttack.Ransomin this instance . Instead , the city repaired damage from the attack on its own . City officials say the attack posed no risk to the public or the security of the inauguration .
Services are being restored to the St. Louis Public Library computer system after a ransomware attackAttack.Ransomlast Thursday impacted access to machines and data at all 17 branches . Library management refused to payAttack.Ransomthe $ 35,000 demanded as ransomAttack.Ransom, and IT staff wiped affected servers and restored them from available backups . On Friday , the library was able to restart its circulation workflow , and patrons were able to check out books at all locations . By Saturday , checkout and returns systems were at 100 percent availability , and now only the library ’ s reserve system remains to be restored . That work began on Monday and is expected to be up and running shortly . Executive director Waller McGuire said the library immediately reached out to the FBI for help with the investigation , and it ’ s not clear where the infection began , nor how it spread throughout the library network . “ The real victims of this criminal attack are the Library ’ s patrons . SLPL has worked hard to open a secure but widely available digital world to the people of St. Louis , and I am sorry it was interrupted , ” McGuire said in a letter to library patrons published on Monday . “ An attempt to hold information and access to the world for ransomAttack.Ransomis deeply frightening and offensive to any public library , and we will make every effort to keep that world available to our patrons ” . McGuire also said that patrons ’ personal and financial information is not stored on its servers , and none of that data was impacted by the attack . Louis Public Library has been working with the FBI to identify how criminals broke into our system and correct the problem , ” McGuire said . “ I apologize to patrons for any inconvenience this incident has caused : on most days thousands of St. Louis Public Library patrons check out materials and use computers for many purposes ” . A request for additional comment from McGuire was not returned in time for publication . It ’ s unknown which ransomware family was used to attack the library , nor how the infection started . McGuire said in his letter to patrons that criminals broke into the library network and installed malware . This runs contrary to most ransomware infections where the malware is spread in spam or phishing emails enticing the victim to open a malicious email attachment or click on a link in the message that downloads the malware . The St. Louis library is the latest in a growing list of high-profile businesses and public services falling victim to ransomware . Less than a year has passed since the Hollywood Presbyterian attackAttack.Ransom, in which a $ 17,000 ransom was paidAttack.Ransom, and the Kentucky Methodist Hospital attackAttack.Ransom, in which officials reportedly refused to payAttack.Ransom. The University of Calgary also fell victim as have other colleges , universities , local law enforcement and government agencies , and entertainment organizations .