Triple cyberattacks hit New Bedford, Gila and Syracuse schools

The cyber onslaught against municipalities continued last week with New Bedford, Mass., Gila County, Ariz., and the Syracuse, N.Y., school district all being subjected to attacks.

The city of New Bedford, Mass. was hit early last week in what appears to be a ransomware attack, but according to published reports and statements from local officials the city has declined to discuss exactly what happened. The South Coast Today reported computers at city hall, the police and fire departments have been affected, but other than that the city is keeping a tight lid on the describing the overall impact.

Jonathan Carvalho, New Bedford’s public information officer, stated on July 12 its security vendor recommended keeping mum to the point of not even confirming what type of attack took place.

Gila, Ariz. has fully recovered from a ransomware attack that took place earlier this month. Gila officials have not issued an official statement, but the county board of supervisors during its July 9 meeting thanked its staff for properly dealing with the emergency that knocked out a significant amount of the county’s computer operations, Payson’s Roundup reported.

The Syracuse City School District has been much more upfront concerning a ransomware attack that hit on July 9. The district reported on July 12 that some of its systems have been restored, such as human relations, payroll, student management, but email and parts of its website are still down.