Belle Fourche (S.D.) city hall hit with ransomware

The small city of Belle Fourche, S.D. was hit with a ransomware attack late last week with the malware encrypting at least some files and demanding a ransom.

The Black Hills Pioneer reported that at least two computers were locked up starting on January 4 with city workers eventually losing access and a ransom note appearing demanding payment to regain access to the data. Belle Fourche's IT department was able to bypass the encryption using backed up data and get everything back up and running.

The city does not believe any information was compromised.

This is the second cyber incident the city has recently endured. In December residents began receiving what seem to be phishing emails purportedly from the city saying the individual had an overdue invoice and asking the recipient to clink on a link. The city said it had not sent out any such emails.