City of New Orleans Under Threat from Suspected Cyber Attack

NEW ORLEANS – The city’s computer systems were under threat from malicious software on Friday afternoon according to communications from City Hall and press reports.

In an internal text message, the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness said “the City of New Orleans is under a cyber attack. Please power off your computers and unplug them immediately. Await further instructions,”

The city’s website, NOLA.gov, was unresponsive as of 1 p.m. Friday.

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The New Orleans Police Department has taken measures to stop the spread any malicious software while keeping its 911 system in place.

This latest attack comes a few weeks after an apparently unsuccessful ransomware attack hit Louisiana state government computers last month and damaged 10 % of the the state’s computer servers.

Cyber security experts say this type of incident is an unfortunate reality of modern life and all businesses – and governments – need to plan for it.
Darren Deslatte at Entrust Solutions, a technology solutions company that specializes in cyber security, said “it’s inevitable that most businesses will experience a breach at one point or another during the span of their operation. The only real way to protect and minimize the damage is to prepare your staff and infrastructure and control your exposure when forced to react.”
The city’s message to employees to take their computers off the network is a simple but effective strategy.
“It seems like a hip shot reaction but it will help to stem the bleeding,” said Deslatte.
More details to come.

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