Effects of Cyber-Attack Still Unfolds for Atlanta

Even though it's been more than two months and $2.7 million since a major ransomware attack nearly crippled the city of Atlanta, the aftershock continues to impact municipal employees across several departments. At a 6 June Department of Atlanta Information Management (AIM) meeting, a city official requested an additional $9.5 million to try and correct the affected systems. Infosecurity Magazine attempted to contact AIM but has not received a response. The city continues to work with private and government partners to understand the full scope of the attack's impact, but Atlanta's interim chief information office, Daphne Rackey, reportedly said that the number of impacted applications is more than 30% of the 424 mission critical programs. That number "seems to grow every day," Rackey reportedly told the Atlanta city council. The attack, which came with the demand for $51,000 worth of Bitcoin that the city said it did not pay, encrypted city files, leaving customers unable to access city applications. Information on current city operations is available to residents, but whether any lost data has been restored is unclear because the city's website has not updated information on the attack since 30 March.