It’s been three weeks since SamSam ransomware strain struck the municipality system of Atlanta city. Even though ransomware removal works were concluded in first few days, the restoration of online systems of municipality departments is still in process.
The local municipal court has recently made an announcement that they are back with their online system. It’s worth mentioning that the court extensively deals in the cases of traffic violations. For almost three weeks following the attack, they couldn’t conclude any case because people had to appear in the court to deal with their traffic offences and the ransomware attack halted all the appointments.
People have also lamented about the state administration’s lack of ability to guide residents to deal in an offline environment. As a result, even submitting a minor traffic ticket offline has become a laborious task. One can give the administration a leeway on this because of the unprecedented nature of the ransomware attack. It has never happened that some of the local city departments go offline for weeks. Furthermore, local government staffers are not trained to deal with the muddle of that proportion.
In Atlanta you Still can’t Pay Utility Bills Online
Atlanta residents continue to endure the inconvenience caused by the ransomware attack. They are still unable to pay utility bills from the convenience and comfort of their homes because the online system hasn’t restored yet. Old and offline payment methods of check, money order, and mail are the only options available.
Cyber Security was not the Priority of Atlanta City Government
Following the attack, Atlanta’s mayor confessed that maintaining and modernizing cyber security was not in the priority list of the state administration. But after sustaining the attack and spending millions of dollars in ransomware removal and recovery process, they probably have learnt their lesson. Now, cyber security of computer networks of the municipality has moved to the front of the line.
In the same time window, Colorado’s traffic department was also targeted by a ransomware attack but data backups protected the entire system to a grinding halt.
