Johannesburg cyber attackers demand ransom in Bitcoin

• Cyber attackers request 4 Bitcoins as ransom to be paid by October 28.
• Johannesburg is not new to cyberattacks as similar cases have taken place before.

South Africa’s city Johannesburg has been forced to shut all electronic services. The city’s website has also been pulled down for 24 hours. While this attack is not the first one, the current attackers are demanding that ransom be paid in Bitcoin. An announcement which also served as an assurance to citizens was sent out via an official tweet in the late hours of Thursday:

“The incident is currently being investigated by the City of Joburg cybersecurity experts, who have taken immediate and appropriate action to reinforce security measures to mitigate any potential impacts. As a result of several customer-facing systems – including the city’s website, e-services, billing system – have been shut down as a precaution.”

The said attack is reportedly carried out by a group referred to as Shadow Kill Hackers. There request is 4 Bitcoins which is roughly $30,000 to put things back in order. They have also given the deadline of October 28 for the ransom to be piad or they will leak the passwords, sensitive data, citizens’ financial information and other personal details.