If you live in the city of Atlanta, you are waking up to the knowledge that the city was a victim of a sophisticated cyber attack. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security are in the city trying to track down the nature of the intrusion and the extent of the cyber attack that was announced yesterday.
The attack has locked city officials out of critical files across various departments and even applications that allow customers with the city to pay bills. At this time city officials are saying that public safety and airport operations are unaffected. According to DHS officials, the attack hit the city at around 5 a.m.Thursday morning and officials informed the public hours later. According to city officials, files were encrypted and the attackers are reportedly demanding a large sum to be paid with Bitcoin, the popular cryptocurrency. Because of the nature of Bitcoin, it will virtually impossible to determine who the digital wallet belongs to.
This type of attack was done using what is called ransomware and has been growing in frequency internationally. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms told the media that the city is working with the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, Microsoft and Cisco Security in the ongoing national investigation. DHS officials released a statement which reads in part: “We are aware of the situation and have offered our technical expertise and support to the city of Atlanta, as is standard practice for any of our public or private sector partners. Information shared with the department for cybersecurity purposes is confidential, and so we defer to the city to discuss details of its networks.”
The city of Atlanta held the following press conference late yesterday afternoon:
Mayor @KeishaBottoms holds a press conference regarding the security breach. https://t.co/h1WlcyUc6x
— City of Atlanta, GA (@Cityofatlanta) March 22, 2018
