Oakland Declares State of Emergency Over Ransomware Attack

Authorities in Oakland, California, declared a state of emergency on Tuesday due to the ongoing effects of a ransomware attack that struck last week, according to a press release.

Interim City Administrator G. Harold Duffey decided to issue the local emergency as power outages stemming from the incident still rock Oakland, leaving several non-emergency systems impacted or offline.

According to the city, declaring a state of emergency allows it to "expedite the procurement of equipment and materials, activate emergency workers if needed, and issue orders on an expedited basis" while trying to bring services back online.

Oakland officials also said they ordered the city's information technology department to work with forensics experts in performing "an extensive incident response and analysis," as well as cybersecurity firms for "recovery and remediation efforts."

In addition, the city confirmed that there "continues to be an ongoing investigation with multiple local, state, and federal agencies involved."

City authorities first announced it had been subject to a days-long attack on Friday, with residents' ability to call 911 remaining unaffected. Since last week, the information technology department has taken down impacted computer systems.

"The City is appreciative of the community for their patience as staff across the organization work collaboratively to minimize disruptions and implement workarounds to normal business processes that allow the City to continue delivering services," Oakland said on Twitter.

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