Unforeseen ransomware attack in Dallas leads to interrupted essential services
Dallas, the ninth-most populated city in the United States, is currently experiencing a ransomware attack. The city hall website forwards to a sparse landing page stating that the city is experiencing a service outage and is working to restore services. Similarly, the websites for the city and Dallas Police Department are currently displaying a 503 error page.
Multiple critical systems in Dallas, including websites for the police department and city hall, have been shut down due to the ransomware attack. However, service from the police and fire departments in Dallas remains unaffected. Emergency 911 calls are still being received and dispatched in Dallas.
The city issued a statement on Wednesday night confirming the ransomware attack and stating that less than 200 of the city's thousands of devices are impacted. The city team, along with its vendors, are actively working to isolate the ransomware, remove it from infected servers, and restore affected services.
The ransomware group calling itself "Hive" claimed responsibility for the attack, as indicated by Emsisoft employee Brett Callow in his screenshot. Brett Callow stated that Dallas may be the largest city to have experienced a ransomware incident. In at least 16 of these cases, data was stolen.
The potential impact of the attack on police systems could affect investigations, prosecutions, or even put lives at risk, according to Brett Callow. A number of servers have been compromised with ransomware in Dallas, impacting several functional areas, including the Dallas Police Department website.
It's worth noting that the city's Twitter account is included on the city hall website as a source for up-to-date information, but there's no mention of the attack or outage on Twitter as of Thursday morning.
The FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued an advisory about the Royal ransomware group in March. At least 29 local U.S. governments have been impacted by ransomware attacks this year. If any city device is at risk, it will be quarantined and blocked by information and technology services.
As the situation unfolds, the city of Dallas continues to work diligently to restore its services and secure its systems. Residents and visitors are advised to check the city's Twitter account for updates.
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