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Security IT

Hackers Hit Dallas City Servers, Limiting Some Police and IT Systems (bloomberg.com) 17

Dallas is experiencing IT and police communication outages following a ransomware attack on municipal systems. From a report: City officials said in a statement Wednesday that hackers had compromised "a number of servers" and that they were working with vendors to try to control the spread of malware. With a ransomware attack, hackers lock up victims' data or knock services offline, then demand an extortion payment. "We have been having a system shutdown for the past two days now," a Dallas 311 operator told Bloomberg News. "We are very limited in what we are able to access internally right now."

The Dallas police department's website was inaccessible when Bloomberg News tried to visit the page Thursday. The hack also affected the police dispatch system and resulted in the closure of local courts on Wednesday, TechCrunch reported. "We appreciate your patience during this time," the city website stated. The "Royal" ransomware gang claimed responsibility for the attack. The group sent city officials a note that included a link to communicate with the hackers and discuss a payment, however the size of the ransom demand was not immediately clear.

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Hackers Hit Dallas City Servers, Limiting Some Police and IT Systems

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  • by dmay34 ( 6770232 ) on Thursday May 04, 2023 @12:15PM (#63497270)

    I understand that fishing emails are things that are stupid effective, but I'll never see one of these ransomware attack headlines without first thinking "STOP LOOKING AT PORN ON WORK COMPUTERS!"

    • I understand that fishing emails are things that are stupid effective, but I'll never see one of these ransomware attack headlines without first thinking "STOP LOOKING AT PORN ON WORK COMPUTERS!"

      Horny humans are quite numerous. No doubt. But they are no match for the sheer number of gullible humans.

      Ignorance, catches a lot more than mere hormones these days. If you're using porn to deploy ransomware, you're limiting yourself.

  • If the hackers are ever apprehended, what charges might be filed for say.. a death that occurs that might have been prevented if law enforcement were able to be dispatched to the location?
  • Dallas is pretty liberal I've read. Maybe they took all those protest to heart and decided to defund their IT department and now they are suffering for it.

  • by Ronin Developer ( 67677 ) on Thursday May 04, 2023 @01:57PM (#63497514)

    I would love to know what RMS system they are using.

    CI info is supposed to be anonymized for just in the event this fear is realized.

    At the very least, the personal detail info needs to be secured via encryption with the decryption keys kept separate from the system.

    Somebody seriously Fâ(TM)d up if that info was released as lives are at risk.

    Were undercover officers exposed as well?

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