NEWBURGH – City of Newburgh Mayor Torrance Harvey has confirmed that the City was the victim of a cybersecurity attack earlier this week.
It is believed that hackers have held sensitive information and city operations at ransom.
“We have law enforcement, the FBI, and some highly trained (IT) experts looking into it,” Harvey said. “We are surprised because the group, whoever it is, usually goes after large cities. I am not sure why we are on their radar. Thank God, we recently purchased cyber insurance.”
Cyber insurance typically can help protect a municipality or business from losses resulting from a cyber-attack and can cover costs resulting from data and network breaches, including theft of personal information, cyber extortion, and other expenses. The City announced early Tuesday morning a network security incident, resulting in a temporary disruption of some services.
The City was unable to process or accept payments for property taxes, water, sewer, sanitation, permit fees, or parking tickets. Services at City Hall and 123 Grand Street have been closed since the breach and will be closed again on Friday. There is no disruption to City Police and Fire emergency lines and calls to 911 are fully functional. Residents can continue to use existing phone numbers and emails to contact City departments, but the security incident may have impacted both phone and email systems.
Harvey said that he did not know what information had been compromised, when the situation would be resolved, or when offices would be open again to the public.
“It’s an ongoing investigation,” Harvey said. “People are wondering when City Hall will open again, but we don’t know. Our tech team is working day and night to get everything figured out.”
