DALLAS — The city of Dallas website and the main page for the Dallas Police Department are officially back online as of Monday, May 8. But city of Dallas IT experts report they continue a slow and methodical recovery from a May 3 ransomware attack that has impacted multiple city networks.
Bill Zielinski, chief of information and technology services for the city of Dallas, told the Public Safety Committee Monday that police and fire response systems were first priority. Computer experts are going department by department, site by site, device by device to make sure they do not carry the ransomware.
Zielinski said that 9-1-1 operators continue to answer and dispatch calls utilizing back up procedures and the city's public safety radio system.
As city IT staff and hired contractors review individual devices and ensure that they are secure, those devices are also bring brought back online. Computer Assisted Dispatch (CAD) functionality will increase for DPD, DFR and 311, Zielinski said.
In its latest update, the city officials say it "has no indication that customer information such as billing data or personally identifiable information (PII) has been leaked from City systems or databases." But should that change "the City will notify potentially impacted individuals with information and instructions."
As for specifics of the investigation, Zielinski repeatedly said this is an ongoing criminal investigation that limits his ability to make much of the information public.
"The City cannot comment on specific details which risk impeding the investigation or exposing vulnerabilities that can be exploited by an attacker," city officials said in a Monday afternoon news release.
As for how long the outages and other systems delays could last, Zielinski could only say that as software, servers, and devices are reviewed to ensure they are uninfected that service will return as quickly as possible.
Officials said that the city's social media accounts have not been compromised. Updates will continue to be shared via DallasCityNews.net.