The city of Lowell in Massachusetts has been hit by a cyberattack that affected its computer systems on Monday.
According to City Manager Tom Golden, phones, emails, and other city systems were affected. However, 911 and other emergency numbers were not impacted, and there is no indication of a data breach.
The city’s Management Information Systems Department has isolated the affected systems and is working to troubleshoot them further to protect the city’s tech and data assets.
The incident is not being described as a ransomware attack, and law enforcement professionals are comfortable with the situation.
The attack on Lowell is another warning to local municipalities about the threat of cyberattacks. Boston College cybersecurity expert Kevin Powers believes that local governments will eventually be attacked by cybercriminals, and that incident response plans and training for the worst will be critical to stopping bad actors.
Data breaches can be costly, time-consuming, and difficult to investigate, with the average cost for a data breach estimated to be between $3 million to $4 million.
