A ransomware attack which took place on the Baltimore city servers has made the mayor announce an immediate shut of IT services as an emergency. However, essential services like police, fire, EMS and 311 were brought back to life after an interim shutdown of 45 minutes on Tuesday.
Baltimore city Mayor Bernard C Jack Young confirmed the incident on his city servers via Twitter and said that presently there is no evidence that the hackers have gained access to personal data and have stolen it.
The law enforcement has been pressed into service to determine the source and severity of the ransomware attack on most city servers as the city hall employees have been urged to switch off the internet, computers and other devices such as connected printers.
Readers of Cybersecurity Insiders have to make a note of the fact over here that a similar malware attack took place on the servers of the city of Baltimore in March 2018 i.e. last year impacting the 911 dispatch system heavily. At that, the time hackers gained access into the network by exploiting an open internet port left unprotected on the network.
Details on how the hackers gained access into the network will be posted to the media after a detailed investigation is completed on the incident.
Lester Davis, a spokesperson to Mayor Bernard Young said that the attack looks similar to that which took place on the city of Greenville, North Carolina last month.
More details will be updated shortly!
Note- On May 8th, 2019, Baltimore city mayor issued a media update that the servers were attacked by Robinhood ransomware.
