Cyber attack hits Pittsburg’s city computer system

PITTSBURG — A cybersecurity attack last weekend disrupted a portion of this city’s computer system, making it difficult for the public to access City Council agendas.

The security breach was detected on Aug. 18, prompting the city to seek help from external cybersecurity specialists.

“We took the whole system down as soon as our internal software triggered an alert,” Pittsburg City manager Garrett Evans said Friday.

He said various tests were conducted to ensure there were no blatant breaches on the system, and the work with cybersecurity specialists is ongoing.

The cyber attack hindered access to the Pittsburg City Council agenda and minutes page, which members of the public can view past and upcoming agendas and staff reports, through an an external platform called Onbase Web.

As a result, the city was unable to broadcast Monday’s council meeting live.

This news organization contacted Evans on Tuesday about the lack of access to the council agenda and video webpage, but was told there was a “heavy system upgrade” underway. Evans said he expected the system to be back to normal on Wednesday.

In a press release on Friday, the city said it wants to be transparent and forthcoming about the incident but did not want to make premature assumptions about the extent of the impact and other details as it may progress during the forensic investigations.

“We understand the concerns such an incident may raise among our residents, employees, and partners,” a statement released Friday by Evans read. “We have notified federal law enforcement of the incident and want to assure everyone that we are taking this matter seriously.”

So far, it is unclear if any personal information has been compromised.

“Once the investigation is complete and in the event that our review determines any personal information has been involved, we will notify the affected individuals directly,” the statement said.