City of West Haven takes IT systems offline following a major cyber attack

The City of West Haven in the U.S. state of Connecticut suffered a serious cyber security incident that forced it to take several systems offline to mitigate the impact of the attack.

 

In a data security incident notice published on its website, the City said that it recently identified a data security incident affecting its IT systems. The City immediately launched an investigation, with assistance from external cyber security experts, to determine the nature and scope of the incident.

 

Dorinda Borer, Mayor of the City added that to contain the incident, the City decided to take several affected systems offline.

 

“Upon being alerted, we immediately engaged experienced external professionals to assist us through the investigation and are continuing to work through that process, including an assessment of any data that may have been impacted by this incident,” Borer said.

 

“We also reported this matter to the appropriate authorities and remain in contact with them as their investigation continues.

 

“As a result of the city’s established practices and general preparedness for a situation like this, the systems impacted by this incident were backed up in a manner that allowed for all systems to be operational within a few days,” she added.

 

The City of West Haven is in the process of investigating the data security incident and said it will share more updates as and when available.

 

“While the city had put security measures in place, held employee awareness training and engaged an outside review of our IT network security systems, we will continually explore opportunities to provide additional layers of security as the city is committed to the protection, integrity and privacy of our data entrusted in our care,” it said.  

 

Recently, the Qilin ransomware group claimed responsibility for the cyber attack on the City of West Heaven and listed it as a victim on its data leak site. The group gave the City a deadline of January 19 to pay a ransom, failing which the hacker group has threatened to leak the stolen data.