The city of Knoxville shuts down its network after being hit by ransomware attack.
The city of Knoxville shuts down its network after being hit by ransomware attack.
Knoxville is the 134th biggest city in the US with a population of over 180,000, it’s Tennessee’s third-largest city after Nashville and Memphis.
Around 4-4:30am, June 11, the members of the Knoxville Fire Department the attack and instantly Knoxville’s Chief Operations Officer David Brace notified the employees of the breach through email.
“Information Systems is currently following recommended protocols. This includes shutting down servers, our internet connections and PC’s. Please do not log in to the network or use computer applications at this time,” he wrote.
Reacting to the attack, the city’s network was detached from the server including impacted servers and workstations. Even though the city’s internal IT system, public website and network of the city’s court got impacted the emergency services such as, police, fire department and 911 hotline were not impacted as they operated on separate systems.
The threat actors behind this attack have gotten a ransom demand. It is still unknown of the ransomware group/type responsible for this attack and how it entered into the city system.
“No credit card information is stored by the City, so individuals who have made online reservations of City facilities are not believed to be at risk,” Knoxville spokesperson Eric Vreeland.
The city reported the ransomware attack to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and is currently underway with the Tennessee Bureau of ongoing investigation as part of an ongoing incident.
"Cyber attacks can happen to anyone or any government no matter how good the defense is. In a lot of cases it’s not a matter of if but a matter of when, ” tweeted Knox County Mayor on city's ransomware attack.
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