Ransomware Attack Pushes City of Oakland Into State of Emergency
upstart writes:
Ransomware Attack Pushes City of Oakland Into State of Emergency:
The city of Oakland, California issued a local state of emergency late Tuesday as a result of the ongoing impact following a ransomware attack that first hit city IT systems on Wednesday, February 8.
According to an update, the city "continues to experience a network outage that has left several non-emergency systems including phone lines within the City of Oakland impacted or offline."
City officials say the declaration of a local state of emergency (PDF) allows Oakland to expedite the procurement of equipment and materials, activate emergency workers if needed, and issue orders on an expedited basis to help restore systems and bring services back online.
While voicemail and other non-emergency services were disrupted or taken offline, no critical or emergency services such as 911 and fire departments have been impacted.
[...] While some cities paid the ransom - including Florence City, Lake City, and Riviera Beach City - others chose not to pay, in some cases with disastrous results. The City of Atlanta, which refused to pay a $51,000 ransom, spent millions to recover the impacted systems.
[...] Cybercriminals earned significantly less from ransomware attacks in 2022 compared to 2021 as victims are increasingly refusing to pay ransom demands.
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