After 1 Million Ransom Demand VI Lottery Restores Operations Without Paying Hackers
pBREAKING NEWSppTo save articles or get newsletters alerts or recommendations all freeppDont have an account Sign UpppAlready have an account Log InppVirgin Islands Lotterys executive director Raymond Williams says the entity is now 90 percent back to functionality after a cybersecurity incident that halted operations across the territory The March ransomware attack compromised Lotterys entire network
ppMr Raymond appeared before the Committee on Government Operations Veterans Affairs and Consumer Protection on Friday He reminded Committee members that the bad actors responsible for the attack requested a 1 million ransom which VI Lottery refused to pay Instead a decision was made to rebuild an entire system from scratch VI Lottery continues to make technical tweaks to ensure that the protections are thereppWe had all our servers computers and other systems sanitized loaded with new security measures and then we began an arduous process of rebuilding Mr Williams explained The majority of our staff became computer data entry clerks We spent almost 10 hours each day reentering information from hard copies That included payment receipts and prize payments from draw number 1027 in February 2024 to draw number 1046 in February 2025 Mr Williams described it as a Herculean task ppIt took VI Lottery seven weeks to rebuild itself and conduct draw number 1047 in April 2025 Investigations into the attack are ongoing ppNow VI Lottery is turning its attention to preventing future attacks Any individual entity or organization is susceptible to a cyber attack Bad actors dont sleep and are forever looking for opportunities noted Mr Williams We have learned that ensuring multiple backups of all your systemsare the backbone to preventing these attacks ppEmpowering staff is another key goal for VI Lottery Training training and more training is one of the guiding principles to ensuring everyone and our staff are competent enough to know and understand that phishing expeditions are always lurking everywhere he testified Investments in technology are also part of the restoration efforts ppVI Lottery is also working on filling a critical IT Director position An amendment to their budget has been made to hopefully be able to improve that salary so that we can attract not just a competent person but someone who can manage our entire infrastructure Mr Williams saidppThere still remains work to be done but we are now able to operate a path forward he assured lawmakers As an extra layer of security VI Lottery will be migrating to the BIT platform as another resource in ensuring more resilience and secure systems ppThat decision was described as a step in the right direction by Senator Novelle Francis He also urged Mr Williams not to allow staffs personal computers to be used to conduct VI Lottery business You want to make sure that your employees have your Virgin Islands Lotteryissued computers and thats whats used on your system every single dayppMr Francis was pleased to learn that the cyberattack did not impact VI Lotterys ability to make good on vendor payments We never missed a beatwe even did mandatory transfers within that period of time affirmed Mr Williams ppThe sevenweek cessation of lottery operations undoubtedly affected independent vendors Several of them asked if they could collect unemployment We couldnt provide that to them because theyre not an entity within our organization Mr Williams explained As VI Lottery returns to business as usual he assured lawmakers that dealers are now back on track with salesppMeanwhile Senator Carla Joseph was interested in understanding what VI Lottery plans to do differently moving forward You gotta be able to invest in new technology You got to continue to follow the trends of the new technology Mr Williams responded It is a perpetual process You cant just do two things and be comfortableIts a costly process but to protect our bottom line thats the direction were going inppThough operations have been restored VI Lottery cannot recover the estimated 14 million in revenue that was lost during the affected period You dont recapture that because thats already gone Mr Williams told Senator Alma Francis Heyliger Nonetheless he anticipates that VI Lottery will remain on solid footing as long as sales remain consistent moving forwardppThe Virgin Islands Consortium was founded in 2014 by Ernice Gilbert and covers US Virgin Islands and Caribbean news politics opinion business entertainment culture and much more Its mission is to offer solid and indepth reporting and breaking news coverage on stories affecting the Caribbean while providing both prerecorded and live video content including interviews shows along with Caribbean carnivals and festivals to its usersppCOPYRIGHT 20142021 VI Consortium All Rights Reservedp
ppMr Raymond appeared before the Committee on Government Operations Veterans Affairs and Consumer Protection on Friday He reminded Committee members that the bad actors responsible for the attack requested a 1 million ransom which VI Lottery refused to pay Instead a decision was made to rebuild an entire system from scratch VI Lottery continues to make technical tweaks to ensure that the protections are thereppWe had all our servers computers and other systems sanitized loaded with new security measures and then we began an arduous process of rebuilding Mr Williams explained The majority of our staff became computer data entry clerks We spent almost 10 hours each day reentering information from hard copies That included payment receipts and prize payments from draw number 1027 in February 2024 to draw number 1046 in February 2025 Mr Williams described it as a Herculean task ppIt took VI Lottery seven weeks to rebuild itself and conduct draw number 1047 in April 2025 Investigations into the attack are ongoing ppNow VI Lottery is turning its attention to preventing future attacks Any individual entity or organization is susceptible to a cyber attack Bad actors dont sleep and are forever looking for opportunities noted Mr Williams We have learned that ensuring multiple backups of all your systemsare the backbone to preventing these attacks ppEmpowering staff is another key goal for VI Lottery Training training and more training is one of the guiding principles to ensuring everyone and our staff are competent enough to know and understand that phishing expeditions are always lurking everywhere he testified Investments in technology are also part of the restoration efforts ppVI Lottery is also working on filling a critical IT Director position An amendment to their budget has been made to hopefully be able to improve that salary so that we can attract not just a competent person but someone who can manage our entire infrastructure Mr Williams saidppThere still remains work to be done but we are now able to operate a path forward he assured lawmakers As an extra layer of security VI Lottery will be migrating to the BIT platform as another resource in ensuring more resilience and secure systems ppThat decision was described as a step in the right direction by Senator Novelle Francis He also urged Mr Williams not to allow staffs personal computers to be used to conduct VI Lottery business You want to make sure that your employees have your Virgin Islands Lotteryissued computers and thats whats used on your system every single dayppMr Francis was pleased to learn that the cyberattack did not impact VI Lotterys ability to make good on vendor payments We never missed a beatwe even did mandatory transfers within that period of time affirmed Mr Williams ppThe sevenweek cessation of lottery operations undoubtedly affected independent vendors Several of them asked if they could collect unemployment We couldnt provide that to them because theyre not an entity within our organization Mr Williams explained As VI Lottery returns to business as usual he assured lawmakers that dealers are now back on track with salesppMeanwhile Senator Carla Joseph was interested in understanding what VI Lottery plans to do differently moving forward You gotta be able to invest in new technology You got to continue to follow the trends of the new technology Mr Williams responded It is a perpetual process You cant just do two things and be comfortableIts a costly process but to protect our bottom line thats the direction were going inppThough operations have been restored VI Lottery cannot recover the estimated 14 million in revenue that was lost during the affected period You dont recapture that because thats already gone Mr Williams told Senator Alma Francis Heyliger Nonetheless he anticipates that VI Lottery will remain on solid footing as long as sales remain consistent moving forwardppThe Virgin Islands Consortium was founded in 2014 by Ernice Gilbert and covers US Virgin Islands and Caribbean news politics opinion business entertainment culture and much more Its mission is to offer solid and indepth reporting and breaking news coverage on stories affecting the Caribbean while providing both prerecorded and live video content including interviews shows along with Caribbean carnivals and festivals to its usersppCOPYRIGHT 20142021 VI Consortium All Rights Reservedp
