The City of Flint, Michigan, is scrambling to restore network systems impacted by an August 14 ransomware attack that knocked some of its online services offline.
The attack impacted the city’s payment and communication services, but did not affect emergency services, including 911, dispatch, law enforcement, and fire operations, Flint said in an incident notice on its website, which is hosted on a separate server and was not affected.
BS&A, the city’s billing system, was disrupted, preventing online or credit card transactions for water, sewer, and tax payments. However, Flint said that no late fees or penalties would be assessed, and that no water shutoffs would happen during the outage.
The attack also impacted GIS maps and caused gaps in service for the city’s email, phone, and voicemail services. Public work services, including the Office of Public Health, however, remained fully operational.
“We are investigating whether resident or employee personal data has been impacted. As always, we encourage individuals to take action to protect themselves from identity theft,” the city said.
Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley said the city was working with law enforcement and cybersecurity experts to investigate the attack and to restore services, but could not provide a timeline for when the process would be completed.
“We are working hard to resolve this issue and to minimize disruption for Flint residents. I want to thank our staff and partners for their hard work,” Mayor Neeley said.
The largest city and seat of Genesee County, Michigan, Flint is home to approximately 80,000 people, making it the twelfth-most populous city in the state.
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