Florida town victim to ransomware attack, pays $490,000 Bitcoin ransom

Lake City, a small town in northern Florida, paid almost $500,000 in Bitcoin to hackers following a ransomware attack on the city's computer systems.

This is the second time in two weeks a Florida town has been a victim of a ransomware attack, bringing the total ransomware payment in the state to over $1 million.

A small town in Florida was forced to pay out almost half a million U.S. dollars to hackers following a ransomware attack.

Lake City, a small town in northern Florida with just over 12,000 people, saw its computer systems shut down after an employee infected machines across its network by opening an email.

The triple threat ransomware attack knocked out the city's email and made it impossible for people to pay their bills online, Jacksonville News reported.

The city council reportedly approved the ransom payment despite being advised not to by the FBI. League of Cities, Lake City's insurance company, covered the majority of the ransom.

While the ransomware attack caught Lake City officials by surprise, it wasn't the first time a Florida town fell victim to hackers.

The attack happened almost exactly like the Lake City one-an employee in the city's police department had most likely opened an email affected with malware.

Earlier in May, the city of Baltimore fell victim to hackers demanding a Bitcoin ransom for the second time in just over a year.

The city refused to pay the ransom and is working on regaining access to its computer systems.