Flanked by Pensacola Police Chief Eric Randall and FDLE Special Agent Chris Williams, Mayor D.C. Reeves offered few details about the ransomware attack on the city. However, he did believe that online payments may resume soon.
“I would say the most customer-facing issue that’s still out there pending is online bill paying for Pensacola Energy and Sanitation,” he told reporters. “We are very close to getting that reestablished, so that is good news. We hope to have additional updates in the coming couple of days and bring some good news there that we’re fully, fully operational.”
The mayor, Chief Randall and Special Agent Williams offered little information about the investigation, but the reporters kept asking questions.
“While I would love to give you a ton of information on this investigation,” Williams said. “/what I’m going to share today is very limited because it is an active investigation.”
We did learn the FBI is the lead agency for the criminal investigation. The cyberattack has little in common with the ransomware attack on the First Judicial District.
How much ransom has been requested? Mayor: “I’ll give you the same answer I gave you last week, which is it’s an active investigation. To be honest with you, I’m not really privy toSo, as Chris just said, we’ve got federal state agencies leading the charge here, those details. and we will allow them to do their thing.”
Is the attack similar to what the City of St. Cloud, Fla., reported last week? Special Agent Williams: “I can’t speak specifically to St. Cloud as far as what’s going on there. I’d have to check on that and get back with you. My responsibilities Pensacola, so I focus on that.”
Did the attack originate domestically or internationally? Mayor: “Too soon to tell. I don’t know. I don’t know because I’m trying to hide that; I just don’t know. But we’re going to work to get to the bottom of that and it does take time.”
Can you say if anyone who does business with the city, is their information in any danger? Mayor: “We’re not at that point yet, but as I mentioned last week on Thursday, obviously, we’re going to look at what every scenario is. As you well recall and your newspaper reported in 2019, there were some precautionary steps that took place just as an abundance of caution to make sure people’s information was safe. But of course, we are not yet at a point where we would be able to confirm that one way or the other.”
Featured Photo by Michael Geiger on Unsplash
