Tulsa Oklahoma, has been hit by a ransomware that forced it to shut down its systems to prevent the malware from spreading further. Tulsa is Oklahoma's second-largest city, with a population of about 400,000. Over the weekend, cybercriminals targeted Tulsa and deployed ransomware on its network. The American city shut down its systems, disrupting all online services.
See also: FBI/ACSC: Avaddon ransomware attacks are increasing at an alarming rate
“We detected malware on our servers and, out of an abundance of caution, we have shut down all of our systems,” Tulsa Mayor George Theron Bynumin an interview with local media.
According to Bynum, employees have returned to work and the incident did not affect emergency services (e.g. 911 service, etc.).
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However, the shutdown of Tulsa's systems has affected other activities, such as residents' access to online bill payment systems and other email services. In addition, the official City of Tulsa, Tulsa City Council, Tulsa Police and Tulsa 311 websites are down for maintenance.
The city's telephone systems are operating normally.
In a Facebook, the US city says that no customer information has been compromised. However, as is common in most ransomware attacks, criminals have stolen some files.
“The City of Tulsa is experiencing technical difficulties with many programs that assist Tulsa citizens due to a ransomware attack. No customer information is involved, but residents will not be able to access city sites and there will be delays in network services,” a post on the Tulsa Police Department Facebook page states.
The American city of Tulsa is joining the list of US cities targeted by ransomware gangs. New attacks are being revealed every day and victims are being forced to pay millions of dollars to criminals.
See also: Brazil: REvil ransomware targeted Rio Grande do Sul's judicial system
Attacks on critical infrastructure also raise serious national security concerns. Last week, the largest U.S. fuel pipeline by the DarkSide ransomware gang.
Source: Bleeping Computer
