The Rockville Center, N.Y. School District paid an $88,000 ransom to regain access to files that had been encrypted by Ryuk ransomware.

The attack took place on July 25, and according to a document sent to SC Media, the ransomware was able to avoid the cybersecurity measures the district had in place. The district's IT director shut down the computer network on July 26 to limit the damage and district officials believe this move enabled their insurance carrier to negotiate a lower ransom payment.

"Because we were able to shut down the cyber attack early in the encryption process, the ransom demand was lower than typical. By finding ways to restore some of our data, the ransom demand went from approximately $176,000 to $88,000," the district said.

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