COLUMBIA S.C. (WACH) —A possible cyberattack on the City of Columbia’s network has prompted an investigation by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, with several city services taken offline or disrupted as officials work to restore systems.
City officials said the city’s technology department detected what it described as suspicious activity and immediately contacted SLED. Authorities said they are working to restore affected applications while maintaining essential public safety and utility services.
Stephen Miano, owner of That Computer Store, said incidents like this are often not accidental. “Very unlikely that this was just a ‘oops! Somebody typed in the wrong username and password’ and happened immediately. Very often these are targeted,” Miano said.
Miano said there are still major unanswered questions
Miano said there are still major unanswered questions. “So we don’t really know what happened. Or how it happened. And that’s probably got a lot of people in the city nervous,” he said.
He said pausing services can be a necessary step while an investigation is underway. “The smart thing to do, because you may not know initially where the vector of attack is or how bad it is, you pause those services. It’s inconvenient, it’s disruptive, but it’s better than allowing an infection to grow or get worse,” Miano said.
The city services impacted include MyColaSC, online services related to business licensing, parks and recreation, planning and development services, geographic information systems and animal services.
For residents concerned about personal information, Scott Cooke
For residents concerned about personal information, Scott Cooke of the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs recommended taking immediate precautions. “If you’ve got any kind of accounts that have passwords with them that are attached to this breach, you wanna go through and change those passwords right away,” Cooke said.
Cooke also encouraged residents to consider a credit freeze. “One of the best things anybody can do, even if you’re not getting a security breach notice, go ahead and put a freeze on your credit reports. Putting that freeze on your reports can really help you prevent other people from using that information,” he said.
In a statement, the City of Columbia said: “The City of Columbia continues to address the security incident involving the City’s network impacting several services. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is leading the investigation, and the City of Columbia has no additional updates at this time.”
While MyColaSC is impacted, residents can still call
While MyColaSC is impacted, residents can still call 803-545-3300 to report concerns or request assistance with issues typically submitted through the platform.
5
President Trump hosts South Carolina rally for US Senate candidate Darline Graham4
Two inmates stabbed at Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center4
Westinghouse $1B Richland County expansion targets next-gen nuclear fuel6
Nice days and chilly nights for the rest of the week
