City of Oakland issued a local state of emergency after recent ransomware attack

The City of Oakland has declared a local state of emergency due to the effect of the ransomware attack that hit the city on February 8, 2023.

The City of Oakland disclosed last week a ransomware attack, the security breach began on February 8, 2023. In an abundance of caution, the City of Oakland has taken impacted systems offline, while they work to secure the impacted infrastructure.

The Information Technology Department notified local authorities and launched an investigation into the incident to determine the scope and severity of the issue.

The initial notice published by the City confirmed that its core functions (911, financial data, and fire and emergency resources) were not impacted, however, it warns the public of possible delays from the City due to the attack.

In an update provided by the City on February 14, 2023, it declared a local state of emergency due to the effect of the ransomware attack.

“Today, Interim City Administrator, G. Harold Duffey issued a local state of emergency due to the ongoing impacts of the network outages resulting from the ransomware attack that began on Wednesday, February 8. Oakland continues to experience a network outage that has left several non-emergency systems including phone lines within the City of Oakland impacted or offline.” reads the update published by the City.

The declaration allows the City to expedite the procurement of equipment and materials, and activate emergency workers when needed, while its experts work to restore its infrastructure and the service it provides.

At this time, the City has yet to reveal the ransomware family that targeted its infrastructure.

The IT Department is investigating the incident with the support of a leading forensics firm, it also hired other cybersecurity and technology firms to recovery operations. The investigation is still ongoing.

“This continues to be an ongoing investigation with multiple local, state, and federal agencies involved.” concludes the report.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, ransomware)