The City of Harlingen in Texas has confirmed that a recent cyberattack on its data system was traced back to Russia. Harlingen City Manager, Gabe Gonzalez, revealed that the cyberattack resulted in the encryption of certain data within the city’s systems.
In response to the security breach, Harlingen officials took decisive action by shutting down phone and internet services across all city departments on a Monday morning. While the cyberattack did not lead to the hackers gaining control over any city systems, the incident caused data loss on specific hard disks.
Furthermore, city authorities are now focused on rebuilding their systems to recover from the cyberattack’s impact. The plan involves acquiring new disks and restoring data from available backups to ensure the city’s network is secured and operational. This incident highlights the increasing global concern over cyberattacks and the need for vigilance in safeguarding sensitive data and public infrastructure from foreign threat actors.
As investigations continue, Harlingen will be taking further cybersecurity measures to prevent such attacks in the future, demonstrating the growing importance of robust security measures to protect critical data and systems.
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