Steamship Authority Did Not Pay Ransomware

The Woods Hole, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority did not pay ransom after its servers were compromised earlier this month.

General Manager Robert B. Davis announced Tuesday, June 22, that the Authority is working with law enforcement as part of the ongoing investigation, and that “the Steamship Authority did not pay a ransom or engage with the cybercriminals.”

The Steamship Authority detected a ransomware event on the morning of June 2 and has since been working with law enforcement—including the Massachusetts State Police, the US Coast Guard and the Federal Bureau of Investigation—to determine the nature of the incident.

“The Steamship Authority takes the security of its information technology systems seriously and we are actively working with third-party cybersecurity forensic investigators, as well as law enforcement, to determine the full nature and scope of the event,” Mr. Davis wrote in a press release.

New safeguards have been implemented to aid the Steamship Authority’s already robust protocols in preventing ransomware attacks. Full customer function has been almost entirely and safely restored, the Authority said, and customers may now make or edit reservations on the Authority’s website. The Steamship Authority has asked that all further inquiries related to the details of the ongoing investigation be directed to the FBI.

Originally published by The Falmouth Enterprise