Expert: Ransom paid after cyberattack on US schools likely necessary

In ransomware cases similar to this, the hacker often will encrypt data and charge a ransom for the code needed to unlock it, Warner said. — DARWIN LAGANZON/Pixabay

CEDAR RAPIDS: The Cedar Rapids school district may never tell the public how much it paid in ransom to a criminal group that this summer attacked it computers — a payment that likely was "absolutely necessary," a local security expert said.

In an email last week to families, Superintendent Noreen Bush said the district made an undisclosed payment to a "third party" entity to ensure critical information that may have been accessed was not released. The attack was discovered right before the Fourth of July.