Mayor Nancy Alcock of Huntsville has taken to YouTube to update the issue of a cyber attack on her town.
She notes the Town has reopened to the public with limited services and says precautionary measures helped mitigate some of the impact to some of their systems and online applications.
No information was released about a possible ransom demand or which group is responsible for the attack which occurred on March 10.
Mayor Alcok says the team is working "diligently" with a team of consultants to get systems back to normal and is doing "everything we can" to resolve the issue.
They are asking those needing services from Town Hall to call ahead (705-789-1751) to confirm whether the service they’re looking for can be offered at this time.
On March 11 the Town of Huntsville advised that it had experienced a cyber security issue which led to the closure of Town Hall and the library.
See: Huntsville hit by cyber attack
“Upon discovering this incident, we initiated our incident response protocol and took immediate steps to isolate impacted systems and take others offline as a precaution” said a news release.
Cyber security specialists have been conducting a comprehensive investigation into the cause and extent of the breach.
Meanwhile, Hamilton is having a tough go of it following an attack there.
Cybersecurity analyst and lawyer Ritesh Kotak says attacks like these are likely more common than we know and are becoming more frequent.
See: Hamilton ransomware attack 'expensive', recovery slow, city says
“Getting them back online is extremely expensive and time-consuming. You have to actually replace software, you may need to reconstruct or restore data,” Kotak said.
The city said it was unable to share how much the ransomware attack has cost it.
Kotak explained that the city’s decision to shut down services that might have been included in the attack is essential to keep it from spreading.
