| Summary: | A report on ransomware, a type of computer virus that encrypts files to lock the owner out until a ransom is paid. The virus SAMSAM was unleashed on the Hancock Regional Hospital and city government offices in Leeds, AL, and has typically targeted municipal governments and hospitals, entities that cannot afford to lose their files and prefer to pay the modest ransom of $50,000. Though SAMSAM has gone quiet since an FBI indictment, 26% of cities and counties in the United States now report having to fend off a ransomware attack every hour, and Mike Christman of the FBI says 'everyone should expect to be attacked'. Includes interviews with Hancock Regional Hospital CEO Steve Long; Mayor David Miller of Leeds, Alabama; head of the FBI cybercrime unit, Mike Christman; Tom Pace, vice president of Blackberry-Cylance; and Howard Shook, a councilman and chair of the finance committee in Atlanta, Georgia.
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