San Bernardino County paid a $1.1 million ransom to hackers who infiltrated the Sheriff’s Department computers, officials acknowledged Friday.
Last month, the department admitted a hack encrypted many of its files, disrupting systems and blocking access to data.
County officials told ABC News on Friday that the county carries insurance for such attacks and its share of the ransom came out to just over $511,000.
After negotiating with the hackers, the insurance company and county agreed to pay to restore the system to its full functionality and secure data.
“The decision whether to render payment was the subject of careful consideration,” the county said.
The county became aware of the attack on April 7 and began taking steps to shut down systems, secure the network and develop workarounds for access to data.
For example, patrol units had to radio dispatch to run license plates or get information on a suspect’s background rather than using the computers in their vehicles.
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