Ransomware disrupts Oakland government services

SFGate reports that Oakland, California, has reported being impacted by an ongoing ransomware attack. While city officials have not yet detailed the attack's scope and severity, the city's Information Technology Department has already moved to disable affected systems as it seeks to restore disrupted services, according to a city spokesperson. Oakland's financial data, fire and emergency resources, and 911 services have not been disrupted but no more details were provided on the identity of the attackers, the most impacted agencies, and the potential theft of the city's data. The Oakland incident comes after six other ransomware attacks against U.S. local governments this year, with the city of Modesto being the most recent victim, while data exfiltration was observed in four of the incidents, said Emsisoft Cybersecurity Threat Analyst Brett Callow. "They're normally able to bring their most critical systems back up fairly quickly. But the impact can last for a very long time," Callow added.