Dallas officials ‘optimistic’ risk from cyberattack is contained

A Dallas city official said Thursday that he was “optimistic” the risk of a recent cyberattack that caused a network outage in his city was contained.

The ransomware attack, which was detected Wednesday morning, disrupted a number of servers of city services, including the Dallas Police Department website and the public library where online materials are currently unavailable.

CNN also reported that a system that processes records for the Dallas Court and Detention Services Department was down since Wednesday morning.

“Our system went completely down, so there’s not much we can see in terms of looking up people’s citations and traffic tickets,” an individual who picked up the phone at the department said Wednesday, CNN reported.

The city said it was working to remove the ransomware from infected servers and restore services that were impacted. 

“While the source of the outage is still under investigation, I am optimistic that the risk is contained,” Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax said in a statement. 

City officials also said that a ransomware group called “Royal” started the attack and that they will brief the city’s Public Safety Committee Monday.