Cyberattack costs City of Quincy $650,000

QUINCY — Quincy Mayor Mike Troup said the city has spent about $150,000 on outside consultants and $500,000 for an encryption key to regain access to the city’s information services systems.

In other words, $500,000 in ransomware.

In a news conference Tuesday morning, Troup gave a timeline of events that have taken place since the attack took place on May 7. He said many services are back and functioning and he is hopeful every city employee has their e-mail fully functioning by the time City Hall reopens one week from today after the Memorial Day Holiday.

“I don’t have my e-mail back yet,” Troup said.

On Monday night, the City Council approved both an emergency payment for cyber security consulting, emergency purchases and retaining the firms of Mullen Coughlin, LLC, of Devon, Penn. and Kroll Associates, Inc. of New York for information security services and cyber cryptocurrency and ransomware negotiation services.

Troup said the city’s cyber insurance will cover all of the expenses that have so far been accrued and, he believes, no one’s personal information has been compromised.