New Orleans hit by ransomware, city employees told to turn off computers
The city of New Orleans is dealing with a cyber-attack. The nature of the cyber-attack has been confirmed as a ransomware infection in a press conference held today by New Orleans officials.
The attack was discovered earlier today, at around 11:00 am, local time, a city spokesperson told ZDNet via phone call.
"Out of an abundance of caution, all employees were immediately alerted to power down computers, unplug devices & disconnect from the city's WiFi," said Beau Tidwell, a spokesman for New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell. The nola.gov website is also offline, being shut down with the rest of the city's servers. According to reports from local media outlets [1, 2], to make sure employees powered down computers as soon as possible, officials used the city hall's public loudspeakers systems to alert employees of the cyber-attack.
