(6-15-24) The City of Cleveland announced Friday that after a week-long investigation by the city’s IT Department with help from the FBI and the Ohio National Guard’s Cyber Reserve Unit, the incident that disrupted the City of Cleveland’s IT systems forcing the closure of city hall for the week has been confirmed as a ransomware attack.

Cleveland City Hall to be closed to public again Monday following ransomware attack

WKYC Channel 3

Cleveland’s City Hall will continue to be closed on Monday, June 17.

Essential services like trash pickup, recreation centers, airport operations, Cleveland Public Power and water pollution control are still operating as normal, according to the release.

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A statement issued Friday reads:

The nature of the attack is still under investigation while we work to restore and recover our systems. At this time, we cannot disclose anything further. While the threat as been identified and contained, this continues to be a sensitive and ongoing matter.

Over the last six months, attacks of this type have increased by 50+ percent, a stark reality that no organization is immune to the costs and consequences of operating in the digital world.

We continue to take this matter very seriously and are working diligently to assess the full extent of the attack on our systems. We have taken immediate steps to validate our cybersecurity measures and are working to fully restore our systems as quickly as possible.