Virus Infects City Network Shutting It Down

Who: Augusta, ME Municipal Operations

# of Records/People Affected: Undetermined

When: 18 April 2019

What happened: A nasty, intentionally deployed virus shut down public safety computers and made the city’s entire network unusable.

How Did it happen: A piece of malicious software somehow got into the city’s computer network, spread rapidly and damaged servers. He said it appears it was a targeted attack. The virus froze the city’s computer network and rapidly spread to laptops and other devices.

Outcome: A​ large number of municipal functions there rely on computers — and restoring servers and fixing the damage done is expected to be a cumbersome process. Once they confirm the virus has been removed from the network and all devices associated with it, they plan to restore the city’s servers and get the system up and running again.