Several digital services were disrupted due to a cyber attack in the City of Pensacola, Florida. Mayor Grover Robinson confirmed the cyber incident and said that the city hall’s email server, phone lines, and 311 customer care services and few digital payment gateways along with Pensacola Sanitation and Energy services were impacted by the digital disruption.
“It is too early to speak about the repercussions of the incident says Kaycee Lagarde, a spokeswoman for the Mayor. Ms. Lagarde also added that she isn’t sure when the next media update on this cyber incident will be released and said that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, FBI and Homeland Security are investigating the whereabouts of the hackers.
What’s interesting in the incident is that the hackers did not target the Pensacola International Airport’s network, the 911 services and police networks as there were well preserved by a firewall.
The FBI has however warded off few media speculations which tried their best to stitch a connection between the cyberattack and the shooting at Naval Air Station where an Air Force Officer from Saudi Arabia opened fire in the classroom killing three sailors.
Note 1- A ransomware cyber-attack is suspected in Pensacola, Fl. But authorities have to yet to confirmed the file encryption malware incident.
Note 2- Previously, early this year, few Florida city authorities chose to pay a ransom in return for decryption keys when their servers were attacked by ransomware. And this activity did embolden the hackers to a large extent.
