New Orleans Declares State of Emergency After Cyberattack

By B.N. Frank

Technology is great but only when it’s safe. Unfortunately, city governments – and hospitals – being held for ransom by hackers are becoming more common.

A recent report also revealed tens of thousands of cybersecurity weaknesses in The U.S. Dept of Energy – including inside the Nuclear Security Administration. Yikes! Now “The Big Easy” has been compromised.

From American City and County:

The New Orleans government has declared a state of emergency following a cyber attack on its systems.

The attack began at 5:00 a.m. on Dec. 13, according to Forbes. It was discovered about six hours later, at which point IT teams ordered staff to power off computers and unplug them. By the end of the day, the city had filed for a state of emergency with the Civil District Court of Orleans Parish, per a city tweet.

Ryuk ransomware was later found to be the culprit behind the attack, according to Tech Dator. The ransomware attack follows similar attacks this year on large cities like Atlanta and Baltimore and Dallas.

Just weeks ago, the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles suffered a ransomware attack on Nov. 18 that caused the shutdown of offices for a week, according to The Advocate. State employees shut down 5,000 servers to keep the virus in check, but the attack damaged 10 percent of Louisiana’s state government servers.

Nevertheless, state officials lost no data and paid no ransom, The Advocate reports.

It’s fortunate that state officials lost no data and paid no ransom. But the city still lost time and energy in order to fix this problem.

According to a 2018 study, 66% of Americans don’t want to live in “Smart Cities” due to privacy and cybersecurity concerns. This seems reasonable (see 1, 2).

Smart Cities require the densification of 4G and 5G small cell technology. Unfortunately, exposure to all sources of wireless radiation is biologically and environmentally harmful. A growing number of Americans are opposed to being exposed to harmful radiation 24/7 as well. Can you blame them?

Activist Post reports regularly about unsafe technology being forced on American communities. For more information, visit our archives and the following websites.