For the second time in a week a Florida city has paid a ransom to hackers to regain control over municipal computer systems. The mayor of Lake City, Florida reported that the small city in northern Florida gave the hackers $462,000 to regain control of email and other servers seized by the hackers two weeks before. "I would've never dreamed this could've happened, especially in a small town like this" said Lake City Mayor Stephen Witt. It is the latest in thousands of attacks worldwide aimed at extorting money from governments and businesses. A week before, Riviera Beach, Florida agreed to pay hackers $600,000 to retrieve its computer records, which the hackers had encrypted. According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, ransomware is the fastest growing malware threat, targeting both individuals and organizations. In 2018, the massive "SamSam" virus disrupted the flight information system, baggage displays and email at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, while another attack crippled computers at the Port of San Diego. City governments in Atlanta, Newark, N.J., and Sarasota, Fla., also have been hit by ransomware schemes. And hackers have taken the information systems of dozens of U.S. hospitals hostage. "Ransomware is commonly delivered through phishing emails or via 'drive-by downloads,” according to Homeland Security. "Phishing emails often appear as though they have been sent from a legitimate organization or someone known to the victim and entice the user to click on a malicious link or open a malicious attachment."