Swansea Police Department Data Breach (2013)

A computer virus that encrypts files and then demands that victims pay a ransom to decrypt those items recently hit the Swansea Police Department. The department paid $750 for two Bitcoins an online currency to decrypt several images and word documents in its computer system, Swansea Police Lt. Gregory Ryan said. It was an education for (those who) had to deal with it, Ryan said, adding that the virus did not affect the software program that the police department uses for police reports and booking photos. Ryan also said that no outside parties gained access to any personal information, and that the police department did not lose any files. We were never compromised, Ryan said. CryptoLocker, a new Windows ransomware virus sweeping across the country, hit the Swansea Police Department on Nov. 6. The virus encrypted several files that could only be decrypted through the purchase of Bitcoins, an unregulated digital currency, to pay for the special decryption key. A countdown clock appeared on a computer screen showing how much time the department had to buy the key before all the files were deleted. The Swansea Police Department bought the key and decrypted the files on Nov. 10.