Originally published Governor Walz Calls in National Guard, State of Emergency Declared After Major Cyberattack Hits St. Paul on by https://www.hstoday.us/subject-matter-areas/cybersecurity/governor-walz-calls-in-national-guard-state-of-emergency-declared-after-major-cyberattack-hits-st-paul/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=governor-walz-calls-in-national-guard-state-of-emergency-declared-after-major-cyberattack-hits-st-paul at Homeland Security
The City of St. Paul, Minnesota is grappling with the aftermath of a serious cyberattack that has disrupted internal systems and prompted officials to declare a state of emergency, activate the Emergency Operations Center, and call in the Minnesota National Guard’s cyber protection unit for assistance.
Mayor Melvin Carter announced Tuesday that the city’s cybersecurity systems detected “suspicious activity” early Friday morning. That activity was later confirmed to be part of a coordinated digital assault on city infrastructure. In response, city officials immediately restricted access to targeted systems and performed a full network shutdown to contain the threat.
“We are the victim of a serious crime,” said Jaime Wascalus, Director of the city’s Office of Technology and Communications. “In response, we have mobilized every available local, state, and federal partner to support our investigation and response efforts. We continue to assess this situation in real time.”
The emergency declaration, issued July 29, gives city departments the authority to coordinate with outside partners including the Minnesota IT Services team, the FBI, and national cybersecurity firms that have been retained to support recovery. The city is now operating under a full-scale incident response, with the Emergency Operations Center leading the effort to investigate the breach, contain the damage, and restore services.
Governor Tim Walz also issued an executive order activating the Minnesota National Guard’s cyber assets to bolster the city’s response. “We are committed to working alongside the City of Saint Paul to restore cybersecurity as quickly as possible,” Walz said. “The Minnesota National Guard’s cyber forces will collaborate with city, state, and federal officials to resolve the situation and mitigate lasting impacts.”
The scale of the attack has led to outages across several city systems, including the shutdown of public Wi-Fi in municipal buildings and other “back-end” disruptions. However, all essential services—including emergency response and 911—remain fully operational.
Mayor Carter acknowledged the inconvenience the outages have caused but emphasized that the city took swift action to limit further harm. “We recognize that these outages have created inconveniences for residents and city staff alike. While these disruptions are difficult, they are necessary steps to limit exposure, preserve system integrity, and protect sensitive information as our investigation and recovery efforts continue,” he said.
At this stage, city officials have not confirmed whether any personal or sensitive data was compromised. The extent of the breach remains under investigation.
(AI was used in part to facilitate this article.)
Originally published Governor Walz Calls in National Guard, State of Emergency Declared After Major Cyberattack Hits St. Paul on by https://www.hstoday.us/subject-matter-areas/cybersecurity/governor-walz-calls-in-national-guard-state-of-emergency-declared-after-major-cyberattack-hits-st-paul/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=governor-walz-calls-in-national-guard-state-of-emergency-declared-after-major-cyberattack-hits-st-paul at Homeland Security
Originally published Homeland Security
