Washington (AFP)

The US city of Baltimore, victim in early May of a computer attack that paralyzed part of its network, will not pay the ransom demanded by the pirates, said Tuesday Mayor Bernard Young.

"I do not plan" to pay the ransom, which according to media reports amounts to $ 100,000 in bitcoins, said Bernard Young at a press conference at the town hall. "And in truth, we will work with other cities to encourage them not to pay either," he said.

After Atlanta and San Antonio, the metropolis of Maryland (east) is the last big American city to undergo this kind of attack, carried out with a tool developed by the US intelligence agency NSA.

The hackers targeted Windows, the operating system of Microsoft, including blocking the computers of the town hall, online payments and real estate sales.

But hackers have also targeted small towns like Greenville (North Carolina) or Allentown (Pennsylvania).

The malicious software used is EternalBlue, designed by the NSA, the National Security Agency, also based in Maryland, said Saturday the New York Times. His code was leaked on the internet by the hacker group "Shadow Brokers" in April 2017.

- "A smart virus" -

"It's a smart virus," said the mayor. "Whenever the NSA does something, it does it well, I just wish it had a key to get us out of there."

Since the attack, discovered May 7, the technical teams of the town hall are trying to restore the computer network, assisted by experts from the state of Maryland, the federal government and the private sector, said Mr. Young.

"We are making progress, we are not out of the woods yet," he added, hoping the network would be restarted "within a reasonable time."

As "the software comes from the NSA", the city of more than 600,000 inhabitants will seek federal financial assistance to cover the costs of repairs, he said.

But some computer experts believe that Eternalblue is not involved in the attack. It was allegedly perpetrated by another malicious software, "RobbinHood", they point out, pointing to the security flaws of the Democratic municipality.

According to Robert Graham of Errata Security, Microsoft has been providing customers with a parade to EternalBlue as early as 2017. "To stay two years without a patch is a serious mistake and it is difficult to attack the NSA," he said. he on his blog.

? 2019 AFP