As previously reported, around 20 to 23 cities were hit last Friday August 16th by malware/ransomware attacks. On the EXACT SAME DAY, City of Lampasas offices were reported to go offline.
According to the Radiogram, City Manager Finley DeGraffenried assures us that “a series of unrelated incidences [sic] caused the Lampasas County Sheriff’s Department, the Lampasas City Police Department AND the Lampasas City Utilities Department to go offline last Friday. He stated that technicians were called in, and that the problem is being corrected.”
Well, that is one hell of a coincidence.
I have directly emailed City Manager DeGraffenried AND his assistant Gary Cox to either confirm or deny that this was related to the statewide attacks last Friday. They have not responded.
I DO have a few questions and observations, however:
- The “problem” (singular) is being corrected? You just said it was a series of unrelated incidences [sic] (plural). Which is it?
- What was the “problem”, exactly? Did somebody spill coffee on multiple keyboards in multiple departments at the exact same time?
- Why did “technicians” need to be called in? We have TWO highly paid Information Systems “experts” in a $300,000-per-year IT Department who supposedly handle this kind of thing, no? Who were these technicians? TSM Consulting? Camp Mabry? How much did THAT cost to fix? Is it fixed? Sounds like it isn’t….birdies are chirping right now on Tuesday evening telling me the systems are STILL down.
I look forward to answers to all of these questions, but unfortunately I expect the City to be evasive about the true nature and scope of the problem – seeing as how I have been harping on their IT Department for over a year now. They would love nothing less than to see me proved right.