New details emerged Tuesday about a March cyber incident that disrupted government services in Birmingham, Alabama.
The municipality first reported a “disruption of the city's computer network” in a March 6 press release. According to reports, some city sources are now treating the incident as a ransomware incident. AL.com.
“This is incredibly serious,” one source told the news outlet. And government workers are still feeling the effects.
With the city's payroll system unavailable, Birmingham has reverted to manual processes and paper timesheets to record hours worked. said Stephen R. Cook, president of the Birmingham Firefighters Association. AL.com Employees do not receive pay stubs and cannot confirm whether they are being paid correctly. The city has previously stated that employees will continue to be paid and that no sensitive data is believed to have been compromised in the incident.
Despite the government disruption, the impact on the general public is likely to be minor.
“As far as we know, there have been no significant impacts to residents,” said City Councilor Valerie Abbott. AL.com. But the confusion is impacting businesses and people seeking permits, she added.
The city initially announced that the event was impacting both online and in-person services, including taxation, permits, licenses and 311 services. Police stations were also affected, with police unable to access services related to checking warrants and theft reports. vehicle, AL.com report.
According to , city officials had to resort to cash and check transactions and other temporary workarounds. A recorded future. but, 911, police and fire departments are unaffected, and the city Said On March 14th, bulky waste collection and household waste collection services were also launched in X.
Several days have passed and some systems have been restored. On March 22, Birmingham announced a temporary 311 number. According to , residents can once again pay for city permits digitally. AL.com.
This is not the only cyber incident to hit the region in recent weeks. Alabama's website was hit by a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack that began on March 12th.
