The city of Massachusetts was amongst one of the cities that was hit with ransomware somewhere in the middle of 2019. In our article 'The return of EternalBlue; or was it ever vanquished?' posted on June 18, 2019, we mentioned that several cities in the US were hit with ransomware that takes down the network of local government offices.
In another article by us dated 1st Aug 2019 titled 'Paying off Hackers for Ransomware - Municipal authorities in the US are showing the way', we mentioned that several cities that were hit paid off these hackers to seek the release of the lock key for them to unlock the files and the network systems.
The city of Massachusetts (made famous by the Bee Gees in a song named after the city) truly sets a clear example that organisations should not compromise or give in. If the said organisation or entity has practised safe and exemplary cyber hygiene and adhered strictly to the risks policies and processes laid out by themselves, they should not have any reason not able to restore and recommence operations without resorting to paying off the hackers for the ransomware attack. Paying off only encourages more of such acts in the future.
Way to go. And as the lyrics from the song said - Feel I'm going back to Massachusetts, something's telling me I must go home
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