Hacking attacks—many using ransomware—now hit US cities every few days. They are expensive to mitigate and extremely disruptive. Abilene, Texas, for instance, had 477 GB of data stolen this spring. The city refused to pay the requested ransom and instead decided to replace every server, desktop, laptop, desk telephone, and storage device. This has required a "temporary return to pen-and-paper systems" while the entire city network is rebuilt, but at least Abilene was insured against such an attack.
Sometimes, though, the hacks hit harder than usual. That was the case in St. Paul, Minnesota, which suffered a significant cyberattack last Friday that it has been unable to mitigate. Things have gotten so bad that the city has declared a state of emergency, while the governor activated the National Guard to assist.
According to remarks by St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, the attack was first noticed early in the morning of Friday, July 25. It was, Carter said, "a deliberate, coordinated digital attack, carried out by a sophisticated external actor—intentionally and criminally targeting our city’s information infrastructure."
The city had trouble stopping the attack over the weekend, however, so on Monday, it "initiated a full shutdown of our information systems as a defensive measure to contain the threat." All Wi-Fi in city buildings is currently down, and numerous computerized city functions—including checking out library books—have been stopped. (According to a resident who spoke to local TV channel KSTP 5, books can still be checked out "the old school manual way, writing down the bar code number from your library card.") Online payments to the city have been disabled, though emergency services remain operational.
The FBI and two national cybersecurity firms have been brought on to mitigate the attack, but it hasn't been enough. Yesterday, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz activated state units of the National Guard to assist the city.
"Unfortunately, the scale and complexity of this incident exceeded both internal and commercial response capabilities," Walz said. "As a result, St. Paul has requested cyber protection support from the Minnesota National Guard to help address this incident and make sure that vital municipal services continue without interruption."
According the mayor, there have not yet been any demands for a ransom.
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