Dallas Hit by Royal Ransomware Attack: City Services Disrupted

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Dallas, Texas was hit by a ransomware attack on Wednesday. Several key city services were disrupted. According to the online publication, BleepingComputer a Royal Ransomware operation was behind the attack on the City of Dallas.

On Wednesday morning, network printers on the City’s network began printing out ransom notes. The IT department warned employees to retain any printed notes.

Dallas is a population center with 1.5 million people within the city limits.  And is the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States with over 7.5 million people living in the cluster of adjacent suburban towns. 

The Police Department and City Hall websites were taken down by the hackers. And the disruption caused some jury trials to be canceled. 

According to Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman Jason Evans, the DFR was running on manual dispatch operations early Monday morning.

The attack did not affect 911 calls, but it did cause issues with the computer-assisted dispatch system used by firefighters.

Ransomware attacks target city governments

Ransomware attacks involve hackers encrypting files on a computer system and demanding payment, usually via Bitcoin, in exchange for the decryption key. These attacks can affect individuals, businesses, municipalities, and governments.