From The Journal Times.com:
Ransomware infects City of Racine computer systems
RACINE
— City of Racine computer systems were infected by ransomware early
Friday morning, and remained that way late Sunday afternoon.
The
city website, its email system and online payment collection were all
affected and were still down over the weekend. Racine Police were
unable to process fee payments or provide copies of police or
accident reports, according to a Racine Police Facebook post.
Not
affected were the tax collections system, 911 and other public safety
systems housed by Racine County.
As
of Sunday afternoon, the city did not expect most of its systems to
be up and running on Monday. If residents need to contact the city,
they should do it via phone instead of email, according to Shannon
Powell, the city’s communications director. Powell added that
affected systems will likely be down for the next couple of days.
Ransomware,
a type of malicious software, encrypts files and software, preventing
access until a ransom is paid to the sender.
Ransomware
is usually spread through phishing emails or visiting an infected
website, according to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security
Agency, a division of the federal Department of Homeland Security.
The
city’s Management Information Systems department worked Friday to
determine the extent of the infection, and followed protocols to
restore its systems and reported the incident to authorities at the
state and federal level.
MIS
worked over the weekend with the city’s cybersecurity insurer “to
develop a detailed plan to restore and recover systems without
spreading the ransomware,” according to a statement from Powell.
“We
are also conducting an investigation into the cause and scope of the
investigation, including whether any data housed by the City was
accessed or acquired by the ransomware actor,” Powell said in a
statement Saturday evening.
CISA
warns that “ransomware can be devastating to an individual or an
organization.”
The
City of Baltimore was attacked by ransomware in May, with an
estimated impact to that city of $18.2 million, according to The
Baltimore Sun.
Powell
said he did not have information on whether the city had received a
demand for ransom.
What is ransomware?
Ransomware,
a type of malicious software, encrypts files and software, preventing
access until a ransom is paid to the sender. It is usually spread
through phishing emails or visiting an infected website, according to
the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a division of
the federal Department of Homeland Security.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment