NORTH MIAMI, Fla. – Saying “It’s just business,” ransomware criminals engaged in a cyberattack against the North Miami government this week.
The city’s IT started to investigate on Sunday. And by Monday afternoon, North Miami Mayor Alix Desulme described the hack as “unexpected issues” and “unforeseen circumstances.”
Desulme announced trouble with the city’s IT infrastructure had prompted him to close City Hall temporarily. The city also stopped accepting electronic payments.
“Although we cannot serve you face-to-face or online, we will do our utmost to assist you by phone,” Desulme wrote on X.
On the government’s site, the city described the trouble Wednesday as “a possible breach affecting our network systems” and announced a special magistrate hearing Wednesday had been canceled.
Leland Neal was frustrated. He needs a city permit to open his restaurant. Without it, he is stuck.
“They are not screwing up the city; they are screwing up the people in the city,” Neal said outside City Hall.
The malicious software, or malware, prevented city employees from accessing computer files. The city announced the IT team was working with local and federal authorities to investigate the extent of the breach.
“The North Miami Building Department will open to the public on Wednesday ... Permit applications will be accepted,” the city announced online. “Plan review will resume, with the exception of those submitted online.”
In a message on display in the local government’s computers, the ransomware criminals purported to specialize in file inscriptions and industrial espionage and described the crime as not personal.
Reginald Andre, of ARK Solvers Cyber Security & IT, saw the message and said the hackers were exploiting a vulnerability in the city’s system to get to documents, e-mails, and programs.
“Either, it’s an update, or somebody clicked on something,” Andre said.
Earlier this year, Paul M. Abbate, the FBI’s deputy director since 2021, warned ransomware attackers that the FBI was determined to “find you, shut you down, and bring you to justice.” U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland also warned that the U.S. efforts against cybercriminals had accelerated this year.
Cybersecurity specialists warned in July about EstateRansomware and Akira, two hacker gangs that had been exploiting a vulnerability in Veeam Backup & Replication, a software used to protect data. It is unclear if either of the groups is behind the attack in North Miami.
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, reported Akira had stolen over $42 million while executing the ransomware attacks this year and released a series of recommendations for IT teams nationwide.
Andre said cybersecurity is “kind of like an onion. If you put layers and layers and layers of security, you can be pretty close to making sure this doesn’t happen.”