Johannesburg City Still Under Lock Down Due To Bitcoin Ransom

The Johannesburg City in South Africa has decided to remain under lockdown because of the bitcoin ransomware attack as we reported in the Bitcoin news today.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are usually requested by hackers after deploying a ransomware attack on the city’s administration computers due to the layer of pseudo-anonymity they provide. The number one crypto by market cap was once again the major tool for a ransomware attack that left the Johannesburg City under a lockdown.

Bitcoin ransom is becoming a growing threat and the crypto asset is not merely responsible for the hackers’ actions but it is commonly used for illicit crimes such as ransomware and money laundering. The hackers demand Bitcoin from the users after installing malware on the computers of individuals and government entities as a way to hide their true identity and make tracing any transactions more difficult.

This was the case with Johannesburg where the city is currently locked out of a number of the computer systems after being hit with the attack. According to the Johannesburg city council member Funzela Ngobeni, the hackers were able to gain control over the systems of the computers and they have a deadline of this past Monday to spill out a ransom payment of 4 Bitcoin. At today’s prices, there is less than $40,000 in exchange for the infrastructure of the city. As it is the case, the government officials refuse to cooperate with the hackers and seek alternatives to regain control. Ngobeni said:

 “The city will not concede to their demands for bitcoins, and we are confident that we will be able to restore systems to full functionality.’’

The forensic computer experts restored up to 80 percent of the system functionality so far and the attack only affected the billing and payments system and made it impossible for the citizens to pay their utility bills so they had to pay in person in cash. Bitcoin ransom cases have increased in the previous months and they even attack government systems such as the instance of the situation in Baltimore Maryland, to kidnapping rich individuals. The illicit use of crypto assets has become a huge topic of interest for the United States government regulators.