The Christmas Eve cyber attack that forced the shutdown of the city of Dunwoody’s computers for several days cost at least $80,000.
The City Council at its Jan. 26 meeting is expected to vote on a payment of $79,853 to its IT contractor, InterDev, to cover emergency purchases and services needed to fight off the cyber attack. Assistant City Manager Jay Vinicki is also asking the council to approve an extra $45,000 in case more costs associated with the cyber attack are found, for a total of $125,000.
The city has a five-year contract with InterDev for nearly $3.8 million, Vinicki said.
Unknown criminals penetrated the city’s computer systems with “ransomware,” according to the city. Police Chief Grogan declined to give details on Dunwoody’s ransomware attack or what it did to the city’s networks. The city’s police department and FBI are investigating.
In 2018, the city of Atlanta’s computer systems were attacked and various files were encrypted with the criminals demanding a ransom in exchange for the key to unlock them in what is known as ransomware. Two Iranian men were indicted in the crime.