BALTIMORE — The United States Conference of Mayors passed a resolution calling on cities to not pay a ransom if they are ever hit with a cyber attack.
Baltimore Mayor Jack Young sponsored the resolution alongside Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn G. Goodman as the co-sponsor.
This new development comes months after Baltimore City was a victim of a very aggressive ransomware attack that shutdown city servers in May. It took the city months to get systems up and running again because of officials' refusal to pay a ransom.
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"Paying ransoms only gives incentive for more people to engage in this type of illegal behavior," said Mayor Young. "I am proud to unify with the U.S. Conference of Mayors to stand up against these types of attacks and show people that they will not take control of our cities."
According to the passed resolution, ransomware attacks on American government agencies are on the rise. They say 22 of 170 attacks since 2013 happened in 2019. The cities include Baltimore, Albany, and counties of Fisher, Texas, Genesee, Michigan.
To view the full resolution, click here.
