The City of Oakland Targeted by Ransomware Attack – Severity Unknown

The City of Oakland has revealed that a ransomware attack recently targeted it. Their essential functions remain in place. There is no impact on 911, financial data, or emergency resources.

“Our core functions are intact. 911, financial data, and fire and emergency resources are not impacted”, in a statement released on Friday, by the City stated.

In addition to working to secure and restore compromised systems, the City’s Information Technology Department (ITD) is collaborating with law enforcement to investigate the incident.

“The Information Technology Department is coordinating with law enforcement and actively investigating the scope and severity of the issue,” reads the statement.

Further, the City is creating a response strategy to deal with the problem in accordance with best practices, and it will release more details as soon as they become available.

“In the meantime, the public should expect delays from the City as a result. We are actively monitoring the situation and sending updated information as it becomes available,” according to the statement.

At this time, it is unknown which ransomware gang is responsible for the attacks, and the City has not yet disclosed any information about ransom demands or data loss from infected computers.

In addition to reporting last year that the City of Oakland’s IT department was at risk from ransomware assaults due to understaffing, Oakland reporter Jaime Omar Yassin broke the story on Thursday that the City was likely the target of ransomware.

“At least 6 U.S. local governments have been impacted by ransomware already this year, with at least 4 of them having had data were stolen”, claims threat analyst Brett Callow of Emsisoft.

In 2022, ransomware attacks in the government, educational, and healthcare sectors would have affected more than 200 hundred major organizations in the U.S. public sector, according to information provided by Emsisoft in January.

Brett Callow also mentions that ransomware attacks against local governments are becoming more frequent. This week, what looks to be a ransomware attack also hit the city of Modesto.

Local government ransomware attacks increased from 77 to 105 occurrences in 2022 compared to the previous year.

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