QUINCY – The city is working to restore access to some of its servers after Quincy’s online network was hacked in a targeted cyberattack last Thursday.
Chris Walker, chief of staff to Mayor Thomas Koch, said the Quincy Police Department’s server and network “showed signs of disruption” Thursday morning, which alerted the city’s IT department to something amiss. Employees in that department then found text files on the servers demanding money in exchange for the return of data.
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The city did not respond to the hacker and instead reached out to cybersecurity contractors to track down the source of the attack, identify corrupted data and scan every computer attached to the city’s network for any signs of whether hackers still had access. Walker said they do not yet know who is responsible.
Of the 60 servers the city maintains, he said 32 were deemed safe and back up and running Monday. He said the city prioritized servers belonging to “critical” departments such as the school system and fire and police departments, as well as the city’s financial software. Some systems, including the city’s shared file drive, were still down Monday evening.
The hack also touched the emails of some Quincy school employees and Aspen, the online application the district uses to communicate with parents.
“Quincy Public Schools, along with departments throughout the city, is currently having issues…
