Mayor denies $50M ransom demand amid city computer outage

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Augusta’s mayor denies the city’s computer system is being held hostage in a $50 ransom scheme.

An investigation continues into a computer outage that’s affecting city of Augusta departments from utilities to courts, bringing some operations to a near standstill all week.

Since Johnson said earlier this week that it was caused by “unauthorized access,” there has been speculation it’s the result of a ransomware attack.

Johnson on Thursday specifically denied a report from another media outlet that the city government is “being held hostage for $50 million in a ransomware attack.”

We talked to a local cyber-security expert to try and shed light on this situation.

In a ransomware attack, hackers gain access to computer systems and then scramble the data. They typically demand large sums of money to unscramble it. Even large and prominent corporations have been known to pay the ransom to get their systems back.

We talked to a local cyber-security expert to try and shed light on this situation.

“It could mean that someone from the outside of your network has found a way to get into your network, whether through hacking in or through, potentially using someone else’s credentials,” said Dr. Michael Nowatkowski, professor at School of Computer and Cyber Sciences at Augusta University. “There’s other activities that they could do if they get into your network. They could just sit there and eavesdrop and continue to collect data without your knowledge.”

In addition to Johnson, several other high-level city officials denied the outage was a ransomware attack.

A spokesman for the FBI – which is investigating the matter – told News 12: “We are deferring to the city of Augusta on how they would like to describe it. We are assisting them.”

Unsure how long the crisis will last, various city offices are improvising and developing workarounds.

“Augusta’s Information Technology Department continues to work diligently to investigate the incident, to confirm its impact on our systems, and to restore full functionality to our systems as soon as possible,” Johnson said in a statement late Thursday afternoon. “We continue to investigate what, if any, sensitive data may have been impacted or accessed.”

The Augusta Commission will be holding a special meeting at 2 p.m., Friday on the outage. Johnson plans a news conference, as well.

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