From nytimes.com
![The former Denver headquarters of Colorado Timberline, which shut after a ransomware attack in 2018.](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/02/07/business/07ransomeware1/merlin_167939430_5fb50bf5-5208-4588-8561-d4a66d5a928d-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)
SAN FRANCISCO — New Orleans’s city government crippled. A maritime cargo facility temporarily closed. Hospitals forced to turn away patients. Small businesses shuttered.
The cause in each of these incidents: ransomware attacks. In recent years, hackers have taken to locking down entire computer networks and demanding payments to let users back into their systems.