Courts in Dallas remain shut down two weeks following a ransomware attack
The city of Dallas has been facing significant disruptions to its public services due to a ransomware attack that occurred two weeks ago. The ongoing attack has caused widespread outages, affecting nearly 1.3 million residents.
The municipal court cannot access payments, and all court hearings, trials, and jury duty have been canceled until further notice. City officials have emphasized the ongoing negative impacts on public safety due to the ransomware attack, particularly as the city prepares for a data-driven summer safety program.
Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia stated that the ransomware attack is severely impacting the ability to plan for police operations, as data is not available on a daily basis. Computers are back online in police vehicles, but the rest of the Dallas Police Department's systems remain unavailable.
City officials have made progress in restoring access to multiple public services and websites within a week of the attack. However, other systems remain down, and a complete recovery and restoration of services could take weeks, according to a statement made by the city on Monday.
There is no specific publicly available information identifying which ransomware group likely launched the attack on Dallas or whether a ransom demand was made. There is currently no indication that data from residents, vendors, or employees has been leaked.
The slow pace of recovery for Dallas is not uncommon, as average ransomware recovery times are measured in weeks, not days. Some systems may come back online before others, but it could take months before everything returns to normal, according to Brett Callow, threat analyst at Emsisoft.
Police personnel are facing challenges such as inputting a backlog of information when systems are restored. The city's IT department has been working tirelessly to address the issue, but the city's press department did not respond to requests for comment.
For a city of nearly 1.3 million people, the unavailable services caused by the continued downtime are amplified. The city has not confirmed whether the prolific ransomware group, Royal, made a ransom demand.
As Dallas continues to navigate this challenging situation, the city's residents and officials remain hopeful for a swift and successful recovery.
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