PITTSBURG – A cybersecurity attack last weekend took down a part of town’s computer system and made it difficult for the general public to access City Council agendas.
The breach was discovered on August 18, prompting town to hunt outside cybersecurity specialists for assistance.
“We shut down the entire system as soon as our internal software triggered an alarm,” Pittsburg City Manager Garrett Evans said Friday.
He said various tests had been carried out to make sure there have been no glaring security flaws within the system and that cooperation with cybersecurity specialists was ongoing.
The cyberattack disrupted access to the Pittsburg City Council's agendas and minutes page, where the general public can view past and upcoming agendas and staff reports through an external platform called Onbase Web.
For this reason, town was unable to broadcast Monday's council meeting live.
This news organization contacted Evans on Tuesday concerning the lack of access to the council agenda and video webpage, but was told a “major system upgrade” was underway. Evans said he expects the system to return to normal operation on Wednesday.
In a press release Friday, town said it desired to be transparent and open concerning the incident, but didn’t have the desire to make hasty assumptions concerning the extent of the impact and other details because the forensic investigation continues.
“We understand the concern that an incident like this can cause among our residents, staff and partners,” Evans said in a press release released Friday. “We have notified federal police of the incident and want to assure everyone that we are taking this matter seriously.”
It remains to be unclear whether personal data has been compromised.
“Once the investigation is complete and our review indicates that personal information has been affected, we will notify the individuals affected directly,” the statement said.
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