For the first time, a city has declared a state of emergency following a ransomware attack on city systems. The city of Sammamish, Washington declared a state of emergency on Wednesday after ransomware was discovered on the city’s systems. The full extent of the infection is still unknown by the city, but they have disclosed that the city’s shared file system is infected. Currently all of the city’s computer-based systems are offline as they assess the damage and they have reverted primarily to telephone systems and paper. Luckily for the city, emergency services are handled on a separate network.
Analyst Notes
This being the first time that we have seen such a high impact from a ransomware attack on a city government, this could possibly act as encouragement for cyber-anarchists to attempt to cause major disruptions in other areas.
