JOPLIN, Mo. – The City of Joplin says so far, investigators have determined a cybersecurity incident was due to ransomware. Officials released the following update today.
(8/5/21) The City of Joplin is responding to a recent cybersecurity incident that began on July 7, 2021. The incident impacted the City’s computer system and caused a temporary outage affecting phones, computers servers, and online applications. Upon learning of the incident, the City immediately isolated the impacted systems, contacted law enforcement, and launched an investigation. The investigation is ongoing, but so far, determined the incident was due to ransomware.
The City is approaching this situation with the utmost seriousness, and third-party cybersecurity firms are engaged to assist in the investigation and remediation efforts – including local IT company, Stronghold Data. The City has been working with these third-party cybersecurity experts to secure the City’s network and resume critical operations as quickly as possible.