Bitcoin ransom demanded by hackers of Calgary wine store

A Calgary liquor store paid aransom this week toregainaccess to its computersafter hackers infected its database with a virus and even got an unofficial receipt thanking it for its involuntary "purchase."

The Kensington Wine Market's database was attacked withransomware a type of malware.

• MORE CALGARY NEWS |Leonardo DiCaprio's chinook climate change comments mocked by Alberta politicos on Twitter
• MORE CALGARY NEWS |Killer on bail arrested for Christmas drink a day before learning his fate

"It doesn't take your data, it doesn't steal it, but it locks it so that you can't use it," said ownerAndrew Ferguson.

"Whoever has done this is going to hold it for ransom to try to get a quick buck out of you to get it back."

The hackers demanded $500 in bitcoina form of digital currency.

"Our I.T. guy had to go out for us and purchase bitcoins in order to pay what these guys are demanding," said Ferguson, who speculates they wantedthe virtualmoney as it's more difficult to trace.

He says he paid the ransom because his employees could no longer open email, lookup inventory or process sales a big problem during the busy holiday season.

I know there's this concept that you don't negotiate with "terrorists"in situations like this....- Owner Andrew Ferguson

"I know there's this concept that you don't negotiate with 'terrorists' in situations like this. But paying $500 [bitcoin] in this instance was a much smaller price than if we'd have the uncertainty of having months of not having all of our data."

The store'sdatabase is working again and the hackers even sent his I.T. guy an unofficial receipt.

"Once the payment was made, it basically said, 'Thank you for your purchase.'"

Ferguson says he didn't report theincident to the Calgarypolice because he didn't want to be told not to pay the hackers.

"To be quite honest, the prospect of trying to start from scratch againwouldhave been incrediblydaunting."

Ferguson estimates the incident will cost him $5,000 to $6,000 because he had to pay a software and I.T. company overtime to resolve the issue.