Emergency after cyberattack in St. Paul: could your data be at risk?

A huge cyberattack has prompted safety concerns in St. Paul, a major Minnesota city. A state of emergency has been declared, and State Governor Tim Walz has also called in the National Guard, indicating the sense of urgency.

St. Paul’s cybersecurity protection system first detected “suspicious activity” on its network on July 25th.

After a quick investigation, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter said that the city’s IT systems were shut down on July 28th to isolate local infrastructure from potential damage.

“This was not a system glitch or technical error. This was a deliberate, coordinated digital attack carried out by a sophisticated external actor intentionally and criminally targeting our city’s information infrastructure,” Carter said at Tuesday's news conference.

Carter has also swiftly declared a state of emergency in St. Paul, while Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, seeing that the attack was too large and complex for the city to handle on its own, has activated the state’s National Guard and its cyber team.

“We are committed to working alongside the City of Saint Paul to restore cybersecurity as quickly as possible,” Walz said.

“The Minnesota National Guard’s cyber forces will collaborate with city, state, and federal officials to resolve the situation and mitigate lasting impacts. Above all, we are committed to protecting the safety and security of the people of St. Paul.”

Crippling hacks that knock out city services are indeed a hallmark of ransomware incidents, in which cybercriminals deploy data-scrambling software to paralyze victim networks until a ransom payment is made.

The FBI is now also involved in investigating the source and extent of the breach. At this point, the motive for the attack is unclear. Officials aren’t commenting on whether any ransom is being demanded.

However, crippling hacks that knock out city services are indeed a hallmark of ransomware incidents, in which cybercriminals deploy data-scrambling software to paralyze victim networks until a ransom payment is made.

St. Paul’s IT systems were already shut on Monday as a defensive step. For instance, city buildings like libraries and recreation centers now have no WiFi. Key emergency services, including 911, have remained operational, though.

“We recognize that these outages have created inconveniences for residents and city staff alike. While these disruptions are difficult, they are necessary steps to limit exposure, preserve system integrity, and protect sensitive information as our information and recovery efforts continue,” said Mayor Carter.

Is the people’s data at risk? According to Carter, the attack appears to be limited to city systems. But St. Paul holds “limited” data on residents who are not city employees, so staying alert about your personal data would be smart.