Cybersecurity Incident Disrupts City of Columbus Services

The City of Columbus is grappling with a significant cybersecurity incident that has disrupted various city services since July 18, 2024. Initially suspected to be related to the global CrowdStrike outage, the city's Department of Technology identified the issue as a separate event, likely triggered by a city employee clicking on a malicious email link. In response, city officials severed internet connectivity to contain the threat, impacting many city systems and operations. Although 911 and 311 services, as well as employee payroll, remain operational, these services are not functioning at full capacity, with manual workarounds in place. The full extent and impact of the breach are still under investigation, and there is no current evidence that personal identifiable information has been compromised. The city is working with cybersecurity experts and law enforcement to eradicate the threat and restore services, but no timeline has been provided for when normal operations will resume.

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