Some city services still unavailable after St. Paul cyberattack
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The city of St. Paul is still dealing with the effects of a cyberattack that was first detected on Friday.
St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry said in a statement Wednesday that the cyberattack forced the city to proactively shut down its internal network. He said it’s affected the city’s phones, Wi-Fi and internal operating systems.
While emergency services — including 911 — are still fully operational, St. Paul police said other services like data requests and evidence returns may be delayed.
Henry said the police department has already implemented workarounds for most public-facing systems “to ensure the public doesn’t suffer during this recovery period.”
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“We are asking for a little patience in areas where our internal access issues might impact our ability to respond as quickly as we’d like to,” Henry said in the statement. “Technology helps create efficiencies which we all rely on. When these systems are shut down, they can impact things we have come to take for granted.”
He said the police department “created solutions to address everything from body-worn camera uploading to tele-serve reports being taken remotely.”
In the case of a police or fire emergency, residents should still call 911. For non-emergencies, the city says to call (651) 291-1111.
The cyberattack is affecting other city services, too. At the St. Paul Public Library, public internet and printing are currently unavailable. Responses to emails may be delayed, according to the library’s website.
Libraries and recreation centers remain open in St. Paul. Wi-Fi is out in city buildings.
Como Regional Park Pool and Highland Park Aquatic Center are cash only due to the system outages, according to a post from St. Paul Parks and Recreation.
Online payments for city services, including water, are unavailable. The city said no late fees will be assessed while those payment systems are unavailable. Additional billing and service updates will be shared when systems are restored.
More information about what services are available can be found on the city’s website.
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.
City officials said Tuesday they don’t have a timeline for restoring services.
The Minnesota National Guard is assisting the city with cybersecurity services after the attack.
