BR24 reports that a municipality in Bavaria has been hit by a trojan with a ransom demand (translation): When Ernst Walter turns on his computer, he can hardly believe his eyes. The executive director of the Kammeltal municipality in the G�nzburg district can no longer open anything: “Instead of normal files, there was only a salad of letters.” […] “Fortunately, no security-relevant data is affected, we have outsourced it,” says Mayor Thorsten Wick. But many documents, forms and also the templates for the official journal are gone. How the malware was injected is not yet confirmed but an email attachment is suspected. Read more on BR. What will be of special line to American readers is a argument in the news describe that while thousands of attempts are send to different email addresses, if they remnant up at a municipality, it is more likely by prospect (because): Most criminals live that authorities cannot be blackmailed, unlike any other mark group. They cannot be blackmailed? What does that mean? That they can’t pay or just that they won’t pay? Authorities/municipalities here in the U.S. are targeted frequently — and successfully, in many cases. Is there something municipalities make elsewhere that would be a strategy American municipalities should adopt? There was a time when some municipalities agreed not to pay ransom, but that does not seem to get been adhered to strictly. The municipality issued a argument (translation): The Kammeltal township computer system was attacked by a Trojan on april 14, 2021. Unfortunately, all files were corrupted or formatted as a result. All necessary documents for party traffic are no longer available. Personal data is not likely to be affected. It is not yet known if data recovery is possible. constabulary investigations began immediately. We ask for your apprehension in the near future if the processing takes longer than usual. Thanks for your understanding. The type of malware has not been disclosed. Reporting by @Chum1ng0. Additional commentary added by Dissent.