Ransomware attack on New Orleans and so Emergency Declared

A Ransomware attack has reportedly taken place on the city of New Orleans forcing digital shut down from early hours of Saturday. And official sources report that the employees of the New Orleans City Hall have been asked to unplug their computers and use Radio systems for communication.

As of now, an investigation is underway to determine the impact of the attack and Mayor Latoya Cantrell has decided to declare a statewide emergency until the situation comes under control.

According to the press release given by the City of New Orleans Emergency Preparedness Campaign, the suspicious activity was detected at 5 am CST on Friday and was confirmed by IT investigators at 11 am on Saturday forcing the Mayor to declare an emergency and a decision to take down the servers.

Mayor Cantrell has confirmed that it was a ransomware attack and hence stated that he has filed a state of emergency with the Civil District Court in connection with the incident.

Kim LaGrue, the CIO of New Orleans City has disclosed that a ransom demand is yet to be put forward by the hackers.

Note 1- In this year i.e. 2019 New Orleans happens to be the second city to declare an emergency after Louisiana’s emergency call in July-Aug’19.

Note2- as hackers are finding it easy to infiltrate networks to spread ransomware, the practice has reportedly become a lucrative earning means for them, thus propelling the cybercrime even further.

Note3- Until the situation is brought under control; New Orleans City has declared that all Safety and Permits schedules will be inspected on a manual note.