The City of Dallas, Texas, has suffered a ransomware attack, causing it to shut down some of its IT systems to prevent the attack’s spread.
Dallas is the ninth largest city in the United States, with a population of approximately 2.6 million people, according to US census data.
Local media reported that the City’s police communications and IT systems were shut down Monday morning due to a suspected ransomware attack.
This has led to 911 dispatchers having to write down received reports for officers rather than submit them via the computer-assisted dispatch system.
The Dallas County Police Department’s website was also offline for part of the day due to the security incident but has since been restored.
Source: BleepingComputer
Today, the City of Dallas confirmed that the disruption was caused by a ransomware attack.
“Wednesday morning, the City’s security monitoring tools notified our Security Operations Center (SOC) that a likely ransomware attack had been launched within our environment. Subsequently, the City has confirmed that a number of servers have been compromised with ransomware, impacting several functional areas, including the Dallas Police Department Website,” explained a media statement from the City of Dallas.
“The City team, along with its vendors, are actively working to isolate the ransomware to prevent its spread, to remove the ransomware from infected servers, and to restore any services currently impacted. The Mayor and City Council was notified of the incident pursuant to the City’s Incident Response Plan (IRP).”
“The City is currently working to assess the complete impact, but at this time, the impact on the delivery of City services to its residents is limited. Should a resident experience a problem with a particular City service, they should contact 311. For emergencies, they should contact 911.”
BleepingComputer has also confirmed that the City’s court system canceled all jury trials and jury duty from May 2nd into today, as their IT systems are not operational.
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According to Emsisoft threat analyst Brett Callow, ransomware attacks on local governments are widespread, happening at a rate of more than one per week.
“Incidents involving US local governments happen at a rate of more than 1 per week,” Callow told BleepingComputer.
“At least 29 have been impacted by ransomware this year, with at least 16 of the 29 having had data stolen. Most of the incidents involve smaller governments and Dallas is, I think, the largest city to be hit in quite some time.”