AngelaJean Chiaramida reports:
A nasty computer virus that had some of the hallmarks of a “ransomware” attack hobbled the Salisbury Fire Department recently, destroying computer files and temporarily forcing staffers to resort to pen and paper.
[…]
The Salisbury Fire Department’s problem began about two weeks ago, when Souliotis’ desk computer started acting strangely when he went to use it that morning. He went through the normal procedure used by just about everyone when computers aren’t working right.
“We shut down the computer so we could reboot,” he said. “When we turned it back on, it just started to download a ton of stuff.”
The department called in its computer consultant, who went to work, Souliotis said, but nothing good resulted.
[…]
“I lost every (computer) document I ever had,” he said. “It’s unbelievable. Who would ever think someone would do that.”
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