Minnesota National Guard assists city of St. Paul after cyberattack
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Gov. Tim Walz called in the Minnesota National Guard on Tuesday to help the city of St. Paul with a cyberattack on city information systems that was detected Friday morning.
The city of St. Paul shuttered some city data systems after the attack including online payments and systems related to the libraries and recreation centers. Wifi is also out in city buildings.
St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter said Tuesday that the FBI and other agencies are working with experts from two private cybersecurity companies to investigate the attack, and that the city won’t restart services until they figure out what data may have been compromised.
“Our teams quickly moved to investigate, assess and contain the situation,” Carter said. “We now know that this was not a system glitch or technical error, this was a deliberate, coordinated digital attack carried out by a sophisticated external actor intentionally and criminally targeting our city’s information infrastructure.”
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Carter said the attack seems to have focused on city systems and doesn't appear to pose a risk to St. Paul residents. Cybersecurity expert Ian Coldwater recommended that St. Paul city employees be extra vigilant of their finances and reassess security on their accounts.
“Use multifactor authentication. Don't reuse passwords,” Coldwater said. “Keep an eye on your credit report, if you see any unusual transactions — that's not great.”
The governor said in an emergency executive order that the attack targeted “critical systems and digital services” and that the complexity of the attack exceeded the city’s capacity.
“We are committed to working alongside the City of Saint Paul to restore cybersecurity as quickly as possible,” Walz said in a statement.
The city asked the state for support from the National Guard. The order calls on the National Guard to provide cybersecurity services in collaboration with the city and state.
The city doesn’t yet have a timeline for restoring services, but officials are working on a plan, said Jaime Wascalus, director of St. Paul’s Office of Technology and Communications.
“We are taking every necessary precaution to protect our systems and those services, and we will not restore services until we have complete confidence in our understanding of the incident," Wascalus said.
The city said “911 remains fully operational.” But a statement on St. Paul’s website asks residents reporting non-emergencies such as “public safety or infrastructure concerns” to call (651) 291-1111.
