Melrose Police Software Encryption Key Stolen By Hackers: Report

MELROSE, MA—Melrose Police were forced to pay hackers in Bitcoin after the encryption key to a software system was stolen Thursday evening.

An email attack was sent to the entire department Thursday which contained a virus that voided the department’s control of the program, according to a report by The Melrose Free Press based on information given by Chief Michael Lyle. The department was later forced to pay one Bitcoin worth $489 to the hackers to regain control on Saturday with the help of Melrose Information Technology Director Jorge Pazos.

Reports Aaron Leibowitz, who broke the story on The Melrose Free Press website:

The attack came in the form of an email sent to the entire department around 7 p.m. Thursday, Lyle said. One person opened the email, setting off a virus that voided the department’s control of a program it uses to log incident reports, known as TriTech.

The department worked with Melrose Information Technology Director Jorge Pazos to purchase a Bitcoin worth $489, Lyle said. The police transferred the Bitcoin to the hackers, regaining control of the software on Saturday afternoon.

Bitcoin is a form of digital currency created and stored electronically. It was invented in 2008.

The Melrose Police did not lose any data, but officers were forced to put all log entries and incident reports in Microsoft Word documents until the problem was addressed, according to Lt. Mark DeCroteau.

DeCroteau also added that the department was still able to access other data systems to search criminal history and find outstanding warrants, according to Liebowitz’s report.

Patch attempted to contact Chief Michael Lyle regarding the information, but he was not immediately available for comment.