The City of Las Vegas announced in a series of tweets on Jan. 8 that it dodged a major cyberattack. The city said it experienced a cyber compromise in the early morning hours of Jan. 7, but that it “immediately took steps to protect our data systems.”
“Following yesterday’s cyber compromise, we have resumed full operations with all data systems functioning as normal,” Las Vegas tweeted on Jan. 8. “Thanks to our software security systems and fast action by our IT staff, we were fortunate to avoid what had the potential to be a devastating situation.”
As part of its response to the would-be attack, it pulled the city’s website offline briefly. As a result, the city government did note that some residents trying to interface with the city’s website may “experience brief interruptions of service,” but said those interruptions have been “minimal.”
The city reported on Jan. 8 that it does bot believe any data was lost from its systems, nor was any personal data compromised. The mayor’s office did acknowledge that they were “unclear as to who was responsible for the compromise,” but they are continuing to work with Federal law enforcement to look for potential indications.
Las Vegas is far from being the only state or local government target by cybercriminals, though it one of very few that was able to dodge the attack successfully. Louisianna (with two attacks), New Orleans, Baltimore, Flagstaff, Ariz., Texas, Syracuse, N.Y., Lake City, Fla., Pensacola, Fla., and others have all been hit in recent months.
