New Orleans Becomes Latest City To Suffer Ransomware Attack

The cyberattack caused the city to completely shut down its network for several days, but did not affect emergency services.

Just a week after the government in Pensacola, Florida suffered outages due to a cyber attack, the New Orleans city government was effectively shut down on Friday by a ransomware attack.

The city’s website remained down as of Monday morning due to the attack, which was first detected at about 5 a.m. on Friday morning, according to city officials. Reports of suspicious activity, mostly in the form of a wave of phishing emails sent to employees, led the government to shut down the city’s computer system around 11 a.m.

Emergency services, including police, the fire department and emergency medical services, were not affected by the outage, as responders were able to use radio equipment to take calls. Dispatching services from the Orleans Parish Communication District, which directs the city’s 911 and 311 lines, was not impacted by the shutdown, according to NOLA.com.

"One positive about being a city that has been touched by disasters ... is our plans and our activities reflect the fact that we can operate without the internet and without a city network," Collin Arnold, New Orleans' homeland security director, told NOLA.com.

Officials said on Friday that they had not received an official ask for a ransom payment, but that they detected ransomware activity on their network before shutting it down.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced on Sunday evening that City Hall will be open during normal business hours on Monday, but that the New Orleans municipal and traffic courts will be closed. In addition, the health department will have “limited connectivity and difficulty accessing files and data,” according to a memo from the mayor’s office.

 

 

“Healthcare for the Homeless will be unable to see patients due to the inability to access electronic health records,” the memo said. “They will have all regular sites fully staffed and will be using paper records to reschedule patient appointments when individuals arrive.”

While the city’s information technology department works to address the problems caused by the cyber attack and ensure that no critical data is stolen, the nola.gov website will remain down. In its place, a temporary webpage has been set up for residents to make 311 requests, pay sales, use and parking taxes and pay parking or camera tickets, the mayor said.

Just last month, the Louisiana state government faced a ransomware attack of its own, leading the state to shut down several hotlines for a day or so. Government officials said they did not pay a ransom and did not suffer significant data loss as a result of the attack.

About the Author

Haley Samsel is an Associate Content Editor for the Infrastructure Solutions Group at 1105 Media.

Featured

  • Just as Expected

    GSX produced a wonderful tradeshow earlier this week. Monday was surprisingly strong in the morning, and the afternoon wasn’t bad at all. That’s Monday’s results and asking attendees to travel on Sunday. Just a quick hint, no one wants to give up their weekend to travel and set up an exhibit booth. I’m just saying. Read Now

    • Industry Events
    • GSX
  • NOLA: The Crescent City

    Twenty years later we finds ourselves in New Orleans. Twenty years ago the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina forced exhibitors and attendees to look elsewhere for tradeshow floor space. Read Now

    • Industry Events
    • GSX
  • Nothing Artificial About this Intelligence

    I have been looking forward to this year’s GSX show in New Orleans, the Cresent City, or if you prefer The Big Easy. It seems like quite a while since we’ve been here. Twenty years ago, ASIS, as it was known then was literally washed out of the city by someone known as Katrina. It is a good thing to come back to NOLA. Read Now

  • From Monitors to Mission Control

    Security Operations Centers (SOC) were once defined by rows of static monitors, each displaying a single feed with operators quietly watching for issues. That model has become obsolete. Incidents evolve too quickly, data comes from multiple locations, and decisions must be made in seconds—not minutes. Read Now

  • New Gas Monkey Garage Venue Uses AI-Enhanced Video Technology

    Gas Monkey Garage, the automotive custom shop and entertainment brand founded by Richard Rawlings of Fast N’ Loud TV fame, has opened a vibrant new restaurant and bar in South Dakota, equipped with advanced, AI-enhanced video tech from IDIS Americas. Read Now

New Products

  • Camden CV-7600 High Security Card Readers

    Camden CV-7600 High Security Card Readers

    Camden Door Controls has relaunched its CV-7600 card readers in response to growing market demand for a more secure alternative to standard proximity credentials that can be easily cloned. CV-7600 readers support MIFARE DESFire EV1 & EV2 encryption technology credentials, making them virtually clone-proof and highly secure.

  • Luma x20

    Luma x20

    Snap One has announced its popular Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offers even greater security and privacy for home and business owners across the globe by giving them full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video. According to Snap One Product Manager Derek Webb, the new “customer handoff” feature provides enhanced user control after initial installation, allowing the owners to have total privacy while also making it easy to reinstate integrator access when maintenance or assistance is required. This new feature is now available to all Luma x20 users globally. “The Luma x20 family of surveillance solutions provides excellent image and audio capture, and with the new customer handoff feature, it now offers absolute privacy for camera feeds and recordings,” Webb said. “With notifications and integrator access controlled through the powerful OvrC remote system management platform, it’s easy for integrators to give their clients full control of their footage and then to get temporary access from the client for any troubleshooting needs.”

  • Camden CM-221 Series Switches

    Camden CM-221 Series Switches

    Camden Door Controls is pleased to announce that, in response to soaring customer demand, it has expanded its range of ValueWave™ no-touch switches to include a narrow (slimline) version with manual override. This override button is designed to provide additional assurance that the request to exit switch will open a door, even if the no-touch sensor fails to operate. This new slimline switch also features a heavy gauge stainless steel faceplate, a red/green illuminated light ring, and is IP65 rated, making it ideal for indoor or outdoor use as part of an automatic door or access control system. ValueWave™ no-touch switches are designed for easy installation and trouble-free service in high traffic applications. In addition to this narrow version, the CM-221 & CM-222 Series switches are available in a range of other models with single and double gang heavy-gauge stainless steel faceplates and include illuminated light rings.