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Traffic Fines To Go Up In Summerville And Trion

Paying a traffic ticket in the Town of Trion, in most cases, will cost violators more in the coming months.
Summerville and Trion municipal governments used a free program to manage their court systems. The software was provided by Georgia’s Administrative Office of the Courts until hackers destroyed it on June 29.
The state agency tried repairing the damage caused by hackers but finally gave up. They told Summerville, Trion and other communities to find another solution.
Since that free software system is gone, Summerville and Trion are turning to a private company.
Summerville last month approved a contract with Courtware Governmental Software Solutions to provide new software. To pay for this new system, Summerville decided to add a $15 fee onto each ticket.
Trion officials listened to a proposal from the same company last month and agreed to check it out. The fee, however, is a little higher since Trion doesn’t generate as many tickets as Summerville. Trion’s add-on fee for each ticket will be $20.
The state cyber attack is part of a growing trend among criminals looking to make money. They use what’s called ransomware to carry out their plot.
Criminals target wherever – state, county or municipal computers. The business community is not immune to these attacks either.
Ransomware, which locks key files and databases until a victim pays money to restore access, is becoming popular among governments and industries.
In March, Jackson County in Northeast Georgia, paid cyberhackers about $400,000 to unlock that county’s government files.
Jackson officials decided to pay and avoid being shut down for months to rebuild their computer system.
Not everyone is paying the ransom, however.
The City of Atlanta did not pay a $51,000 ransom demand last year. However, the AJC reports the damages cost the metro city up to $17 million.
The Georgia Department of Agriculture also suffered a cyberattack in 2017. Hackers demanded a $48,000 ransom payment and state officials refused to pay. The AJC says that move cost the state $253,000 for remediation to its computer networks.

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