Following a cyber-security attack, New Orleans has declared a state of emergency. They have ordered all the companies to shut down their computer operations immediately. Hackers have attacked the computers that are used by the state governments and have compromised their services to a certain extent.
A report states that suspicious activity was observed on Friday at around 5 am. At 8 am, it was reported that there was something fishy happening in the computer systems. It was said that many pieces of evidence of phishing activities and inclusion of ransomware threats in the computers are found.
Kim LaGrue stated in a press conference that all the computers were turned off. It included shutting down all the operations once they received a confirmation from the city. Although ransomware viruses were detected in the computer systems, there were no requests made. However, they are still investigating the issue as stated by the Mayor of New Orleans, LaToya Cantrell, addressing the press conference.
Locals, as well as state governments, have noticed these ransomware viruses in their computers. These were found demanding capital for the decryption keys. For example, Pensacola, Florida, and Georgia are a few states that witnessed such threats in the past. Also, the Louisiana government faced similar attacks in the past November. This is where the officials were prompted to deactivate and shut down all the government websites and digital media services.
During that period, the governor of Louisiana also declared a state of emergency. The governor had shut down all the computer-related operations. Moreover, police officials and ethical hackers are investigating this issue. Also, it is a severe concern for the state to reduce these criminal activities and put appropriate controls in place to avoid such complications in the future.
