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The University of Calgary paid a $20,000 ransom in untraceable Bitcoins to shadowy hackers after a devastating malware attack.

Linda Dalgetty, the school’s vice-president of finance and services, said the cyberattack that crippled multiple systems on May 28 used so-called ransomware, which locks or encrypts computers and networks until a monetary ransom is paid.

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She said officials agreed to pay the ransom to ensure critical systems could be restored, but noted it will take some time for the university’s IT staff to apply the encryption keys to the infected machines.

“What happens is you pay the ransom and the bad guys physically provide the keys,” Dalgetty said Tuesday, noting more than 100 computers were affected by the virus.

“At this point, we do have some encrypted machines. We have not used any of the decryption keys.”

Dalgetty said university IT teams have been working around the clock for more than a week trying to fix the bug that affected email, Skype, wireless networks and other services. Users of university-issued computers were also advised to leave them off while under threat from the hackers.

In order to receive the keys, the school paid the equivalent of $20,000 CDN in Bitcoins, a digital currency considered largely anonymous and untraceable. As of Wednesday, the price in Canadian dollars for one Bitcoin is $739.65.