The “NOLA Ready” emergency alert Twitter account for New Orleans, most often associated with hurricane preparedness, posted five messages, warning of “suspicious activity” on city networks and informing residents that the city had “activated its Emergency Operations Center.”
One of the tweets said the city is working with “cybersecurity resources” from the FBI, Secret Service and National Guard. The city said emergency services such as 911 and the fire department were still running, and didn’t specify any agencies that had been shut down.
According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the new series of attacks were affecting city services. Workers at city hall and the police department were told to unplug computers, according to the report. A spokesman for the office of New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell told the newspaper that the attack started after 11 a.m.
According to CNN, at this time, the city does not believe any employee information was compromised during the phishing attempts that occurred.
