California City Declares State of Emergency After Cyberattack (nbcbayarea.com)
(Sunday August 09, 2026 @09:59PM (EditorDavid)
from the fighting-city-hall dept.)
- Reference: 0184914014
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/08/09/2144257/california-city-declares-state-of-emergency-after-cyberattack
- Source link: https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/suisun-city-state-of-emergency-cyberattack/4125654/
NBC Bay Area brings news from the small idyllic California town of Suisun City (population: 29,518). The city council "declared a state of emergency Saturday after [1]a cyberattack that shut down computer systems including 911 public safety operations."
> "Malicious software infected and compromised" the East Bay community's information technology systems beginning about 5:45 a.m. Friday, the city said on social media. "The cybersecurity incident hit critical public safety operations, including 911 routing, police and fire dispatch, records and city services," the city said.
>
> "There is no imminent threat to the public," the city said. "All public safety services remain active." The city shut down its computer network "to contain the threat and preserve evidence for a federal investigation," it said... Suisun City dispatchers were taking calls for service through the Solano County dispatch center. Suisun City police officers and firefighters continued responding to calls for service, the city said, but online city services and internal operations were unavailable.
[2]On Facebook the city said it was "working alongside federal, state and regional agencies, including the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and California Office of Emergency Services to maintain emergency services, investigate the incident and restore systems."
But Bay Area PBS station KQED notes "They're [3]only the latest local government in the region to be hit by a cyberattack ."
> Earlier this year, Foster City and Pittsburg experienced other cyberattacks that impacted services in their own jurisdictions. Foster City declared a state of emergency after a March ransomware incident that shut down many services for more than a week. Pittsburg [4]lost almost $1 million to a February phishing attack, though over half of it was recovered.
[1] https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/suisun-city-state-of-emergency-cyberattack/4125654/
[2] https://www.facebook.com/SuisunCity/posts/pfbid0APTu5z8g6agbMa4R56FiLe3o2UVg9edMEfcSit4hVKwehD9WENRcS7bkcqteqEEql
[3] https://www.kqed.org/news/12094482/suisun-city-declares-state-of-emergency-after-cyberattack
[4] https://www.pittsburgca.gov/Home/Components/News/News/3714/426
> "Malicious software infected and compromised" the East Bay community's information technology systems beginning about 5:45 a.m. Friday, the city said on social media. "The cybersecurity incident hit critical public safety operations, including 911 routing, police and fire dispatch, records and city services," the city said.
>
> "There is no imminent threat to the public," the city said. "All public safety services remain active." The city shut down its computer network "to contain the threat and preserve evidence for a federal investigation," it said... Suisun City dispatchers were taking calls for service through the Solano County dispatch center. Suisun City police officers and firefighters continued responding to calls for service, the city said, but online city services and internal operations were unavailable.
[2]On Facebook the city said it was "working alongside federal, state and regional agencies, including the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and California Office of Emergency Services to maintain emergency services, investigate the incident and restore systems."
But Bay Area PBS station KQED notes "They're [3]only the latest local government in the region to be hit by a cyberattack ."
> Earlier this year, Foster City and Pittsburg experienced other cyberattacks that impacted services in their own jurisdictions. Foster City declared a state of emergency after a March ransomware incident that shut down many services for more than a week. Pittsburg [4]lost almost $1 million to a February phishing attack, though over half of it was recovered.
[1] https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/suisun-city-state-of-emergency-cyberattack/4125654/
[2] https://www.facebook.com/SuisunCity/posts/pfbid0APTu5z8g6agbMa4R56FiLe3o2UVg9edMEfcSit4hVKwehD9WENRcS7bkcqteqEEql
[3] https://www.kqed.org/news/12094482/suisun-city-declares-state-of-emergency-after-cyberattack
[4] https://www.pittsburgca.gov/Home/Components/News/News/3714/426
So much stupid (Score:2)
by RitchCraft ( 6454710 )
Get your public infrastructure off the Internet. You idiots were warned back in the 90's that this was a terrible idea.
Re: (Score:3)
by PPH ( 736903 )
If it runs Windows, it might not be able to run without contacting the mother ship (license servers). This is a small town. They probably don't have the IT staff to manage things like enterprise license and update servers.
Back in the '90s, it was someone visiting each PC with a stack of floppies. You can't even run a home PC that way anymore.
Just a guess. (Score:1)
by twinirondrives ( 10502753 )
Attacked remote admin platform, maybe ash component, email?
Oh no! (Score:2)
by PPH ( 736903 )
> Suisun City (population: 29,518)
How will someone report the traffic signal going out?
Re: (Score:2)
There is little in the way of resources on the state or federal level to assist local government in establishing and managing an effective IT and SecOps department.
A persistent global threat should not be shuffled off onto the responsibility of city councils and county boards of supervisors.
Re: (Score:2)
Microsoft is running it.
I was watching some old episodes of Forensic Files and you could see the 911 system was running OpenVMS.
Re: (Score:1)
So a world facing windows machine was the vector? An itchy backhand tells me it wasn't. I also predict hurricanes that way.