City of Dallas recovering after ransomware attack

DALLAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) – Just over a month after a ransomware attack brought many city services to a screeching halt, the City of Dallas said the process of restoring systems and services is more than 90 percent complete.

“While we have made significant progress in the restoration services, there’s still much work to be done.,” said City of Dallas Chief Information Officer Bill Zielinski. “Multiple departments reverted to manual processes to continue delivering these services to residents in this period where they did not have their critical systems.” 

He said they focused on public safety first. Last week, the city’s court system resumed operations, and he said they hope to complete work on an upgraded library system this week. 

He also briefed the Public Safety Committee regarding concerns about the private data of city employees. A ransomware gang that claimed responsibility, threatened to release that information. Zielinski said the city is working with law enforcement and third party experts to review and analyze the situation.

“If the investigation determines that individuals’ personal information has been involved in the theft of data, we will notify those individuals and provide resources to help protect their information in accordance with applicable law,” he said.

The FBI is involved in a criminal investigation into the attack that’s ongoing.