To Pay or Not to Pay Hackers? Ransomware Poses a Potentially Deadly Dilemma

Governing: First it was Atlanta, then Baltimore.

In a matter of days, hackers launched cyberattacks in both cities, hobbling the 911 emergency response system in Baltimore and crippling a wide swath of city services in Atlanta, knocking out Wi-Fi at the nation’s busiest airport and forcing city workers to keep records with pen and paper.

No evidence has emerged suggesting the attacks are connected. But in both cases the hackers used ransomware, which encrypts a victim's files and then sends a digital ransom note demanding money to decrypt them.

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