Dallas Still Dealing With Ransomware Attack – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

The City of Dallas is still in the midst of a ransomware attack Monday as officials worked to bring computer service back to all city functions.

Some website access was restored but crucial public safety functions like police and fire computer-aided dispatch were still impacted.

“One of my first contacts was how much they were beat down this weekend because of all the backed-up calls,” Black Police Association of Greater Dallas President Terrance Hopkins said.

Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia shared body camera video Monday from officers who wounded a man early Saturday morning after the man threatened people and refused to drop a gun. The body camera video showed blank patrol car computer screens where officers would normally see information about a call for service.

“Certainly it’s impacted us. It’s impacted us and DFR quite a bit, but the men and women continue to answer the call,” Garcia said.

Computer-aided dispatch at the 911 communications center had been down since Wednesday.

“It figures out what the closest appropriate resource is and automatically dispatches that,” Dallas Firefighters Association President Jim McDade said.

Without that, McDade said he’s heard about ambulance calls delayed by 30 minutes for life-and-death situations like heart attack calls.

“Calls are not being answered in our normal timely manner,” he said.

The Dallas City Council Public Safety Committee Monday received a briefing on the situation from Dallas Chief Information Officer Bill Zielenski.

Some of it was presented in pubic, but Zielenski declined to discuss the means of attack, the mode of remediation or communication with attackers because criminal investigations are underway.

“Doing so risks impeding investigations or exposing critical information,” Zielenski said.

He said the ransomware is believed to be contained but every piece of the city network equipment must be reimaged to be certain no corruption remains.

Zielenski saved more of the discussion for a closed-door executive session with council members. There was no public mention of any ransom request or payment.

“This event underscores the need for our city to address the…