article_snippet.sent: Tewksbury Police Department (above) was forced to pay a $500 Bitcoin ransom to hackers who encrypted vital records on Tewksbury Police Department (above) computer network.
article_snippet.sent: their were forced to pay a $500 in Bitcoinransom .
article_snippet.sent: The only files that were not corrupted were 18 months old, so cops were left paying the ransom in digital currency or the ransom risked losing the data forever, according to the Boston Globe. '
article_snippet.sent: Paying the ransom was the last resort.'
article_snippet.sent: Paying the ransom was the last resort' Tewksbury Police Department (above) was hit with the ransomware on December 7 when access to the infected computers became restricted and a payment was required to recover the files. 
article_snippet.sent: According to reports from last year, the U.S. Government admitted that at least one police force has been forced to pay a $750 ransom to release sensitive files.
article_snippet.sent: When a Tewksbury officer tried to access the data, a demand for $500 was sent from a web address and account that is untraceable by authorities including the FBI and National Security Agency.
article_snippet.sent: After this sort of infection occurs there are only two options which include accessing the most recent back-up or paying the ransom.
article_snippet.sent: As Tewksbury's back-up was corrupted Tewksbury's back-up was corrupted were forced to pay the ransom, but Sheehan also noted that the malware infection was not a data breach. '
article_snippet.sent: Tewksbury is not the first police department to be a victim of ransomware in the U.S. Similar incidents have occurred involving Swansea Police Department which paid a $750 ransom in November 2013, according to the Town Crier.
article_snippet.sent: Police in Midlothian, Illinois most recently paid a $500 ransom in January.
highlights_snippet.sent: Police systems were down between four and five days, and ransom was paid in digital currency by cops in bid to not lose data forever .