Learn how the Town of Discovery Bay’s CSD overcame an increasingly common cybersecurity threat: Ransomware.

While the 14,000 residents of the Town of Discovery Bay, California, went about their usual Monday morning rituals, an employee at the Community Services District’s (CSD) main offices sat scrolling through his email. He opened a normal-looking message with the simple and believable subject line of “Resume.” He opened the attached file. A millionth of a second later, without knowing it, the entire town was under siege.

From retailers and credit-ranking companies to government agencies and film production companies, the need for increased cybersecurity is on everyone’s radar. Unfortunately, few are aware of the vulnerabilities cybercriminals exploit to attack, steal or otherwise compromise one’s data — or, as in a case we confronted with the Town of Discovery Bay, hold the data for ransom.

Earlier this year, we worked with the Discovery Bay’s Community Services District to remediate a ransomware incident. Thousands of their files were encrypted in mere seconds while a message appeared demanding hundreds of dollars in return for decryption.