Atlanta city system hacked, requires Bitcoin payment to unlock

The attack was first discovered at 5 a.m. on Thursday (March 22), after which a large number of internal and customer-facing applications were unavailable, including some used to pay bills or access government information.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms revealed at a news conference that the extent of the attack was not yet known, but anyone doing business with the city of Atlanta - including consumers and businesses - could be at risk.

Keisha Lance Bottoms said: "We don't know the extent of the hack, or whether any personal data or bank accounts were affected. Subjectively, all of us will be affected by this hack."

Richard Cox, Atlanta's chief operating officer, said public safety, residential water and airport operations do not appear to have been affected. He also revealed that Atlanta city officials are working with the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and Microsoft to quickly determine the extent of the hack and how to resolve the problem.

According to a report by WXIA, a local television station in Atlanta, hackers said they had to provide $51,000 worth of Bitcoin to restore the system. So far, the Atlanta city government has not given any updates on the progress of resolving the situation.

Atlanta is not the first city to be attacked by cryptocurrency hackers. A similar incident occurred in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, in December last year, but local officials refused to pay a Bitcoin ransom.