Baltimore Cyber-attack costs more than $18 million

Baltimore’s chief information technology official has apologized to city leaders for the response to a cyberattack that has crippled the city for a month. The cyber-attack which hit the city on May 7th, has left some ten thousand government computers blocked making it impossible for people to pay their bills, taxes and parking tickets.Once Baltimore has named a winner of the smart cities and readiness challange.In all cities recognized by smart cities council North America and now the city is unable to send or receive the email.

Baltimore’s Chief IT, Frank Johnson offered his “sincere apologies” to city council members during a public meeting in which they said residents and city agency leaders did not receive information about the attack fast enough.

The computer servers were hit by the ransomware attack May 7. Officials quickly shut down most servers, and services like online payments and email were affected. City Councilman Zeke Cohen told, the lack of details caused some of his constituents “enormous distress.”

It's estimated that $18mn have been lost so far. The hackers say they will unblock the network, if the city pays them $100,000 in Bitcoin, which used a ransomware variant called RobbinHood. The Baltimore attack targeted the Microsoft Windows operating system, blocking city hall's computer system, online sales and real estate sales.

Named EternalBlue, the weapon is estimated to have caused billions of dollars in damages and is thought to be the most destructive and costly NSA security breach in history.In an earlier statement, the mayor’s office, along with city agencies and departments, said it continues to work very closely with Baltimore City Information Technology (BCIT) to identify restoration priorities and assist with the recovery process.