If you’d just started using City of Dallas online dashboards last week, you might not even know the ninth-largest city in the U.S. was hacked by cyberterrorists in May.
The City Council voted June 28 to spend nearly $4 million with Houston-based Netsync Network Solutions to install and maintain a “threat and anomaly detection system” for the Information and Technology Services Department for three years. The system upgrade includes around-the-clock security monitoring.
Ransomware Attack
The security breach occurred May 3 when a council meeting was postponed due to technical difficulties. Immediately thereafter, the city began issuing statements that the public library system was offline and building permits had to be secured in person. Dallas Water Utilities billing was also offline, and the 311 non-emergency app didn’t work.
The Dallas Police Department’s crime dashboard also halted for months, with no updated new data. Users who had the page bookmarked prior to May 3 will find a system error on the old page.
City officials remained tight-lipped about the hack, saying they were advised by Communications Director Catherine Cuellar to keep their messaging limited to a few vague statements. The matter has been discussed by the Dallas City Council in closed session a few times.
Chief Information Officer Bill Zielinski updated the council in a public briefing days after the attack, sharing that hackers with Royal Ransomware were behind it.
“This is an ongoing criminal investigation and the city cannot comment on specific details related to the method or means of the attack, the mode of remediation, or potential communications with the party launching the attack,” Zielinski said during a May 8 Public Safety Committee Meeting. “Doing so risks impeding the investigation or exposing critical information that can potentially be exploited by the attacker.”
Dallas Public Safety
The Dallas Police Department began this week using an online reporting system for nonviolent offenses. The program offers a way for residents to report minor incidents that don’t require the immediate presence of an officer on scene — like criminal mischief, graffiti, or harassing phone calls.
DPD has experienced its own struggles lately. Although Mayor Eric Johnson has touted Police Chief Eddie Garcia’s Violent Crime Reduction Plan and a drop in the violent crime rate, a staffing shortage and pension plan problems plague the department.
City officials have said the switch to online reporting isn’t related to the ransomware attack but rather an opportunity to free up patrol officers for crimes that require immediate attention.
At this time, daltxrealestate.com has heard no reports of city employees or website users who have had their personal information stolen or compromised.
The $4 million contract with Netsync Network Solutions covers services that will “aid in protecting the city’s network and systems against internal and external cyber threats to the organization including potential ransomware. Additionally, this system provides improved data storage capabilities for investigative purposes around cyber and log events, and reduces false threat alerts through artificial intelligence,” according to city documents.
