City paid ‘threat actor’ $30K over breach

The city of Paducah regained access to servers and records compromised earlier this month by paying the “threat actor” responsible for the data breach approximately $30,000, according to a news release.

The city does not know the identity of the third-party responsible for the breach, spokeswoman Pam Spencer said. The $30,000 was paid out of the city’s cyber security insurance coverage, she said.

The city became aware Feb. 1 of the “intrusion” into its information technology network. Malicious software was used to compromise the city’s systems and encrypt numerous data files.