The City of Tulsa, Oklahoma, announced on May 9, 2021, that it had been hit with a ransomware attack, but the Mayor is resolute in not paying the demanded ransom. Although “all of our computer systems—with a few exceptions—are down right now,” the Mayor has stated that he will “not pay a nickel” to the attackers.
Although emergency services like fire, rescue and police are fully functional, unfortunately, the attack has caused serious disruption to the city, including the police department, which is unable to offload data from body cameras. In addition, residents are unable to pay some bills, such as water bills. While the city is restoring the system, residents will get a brief hiatus from paying bills where systems have been disrupted until five days after systems are restored.
Although IT staff are working around the clock, the Mayor said the systems will be restored in phases, and some systems may not be fully restored within a month.