Hackers Hit Dallas City Servers, Limiting Some Police and IT Systems

Dallas is experiencing IT and police communication outages following a ransomware attack on municipal systems. From a report: City officials said in a statement Wednesday that hackers had compromised "a number of servers" and that they were working with vendors to try to control the spread of malware. With a ransomware attack, hackers lock up victims' data or knock services offline, then demand an extortion payment. "We have been having a system shutdown for the past two days now," a Dallas 311 operator told Bloomberg News. "We are very limited in what we are able to access internally right now." The Dallas police department's website was inaccessible when Bloomberg News tried to visit the page Thursday. The hack also affected the police dispatch system and resulted in the closure of local courts on Wednesday, TechCrunch reported. "We appreciate your patience during this time," the city website stated. The "Royal" ransomware gang claimed responsibility for the attack. The group sent city officials a note that included a link to communicate with the hackers and discuss a payment, however the size of the ransom demand was not immediately clear.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.