The mayor of Alcanena said this Wednesday that the attack on the municipality’s IT system, which occurred on November 6, was “devastating” and “serious,” noting that “the response time of the municipality has been suspended.”
At a press conference in the Noble Hall of the Alcanena Chamber (Santarem), Rui Anastasio (PSD/SDS/MPT coalition) said that “the situation is very serious” because it “conditions the activities of various municipal services.”
“After this incident, the municipality’s response timeline is suspended,” he said.
On November 6, the Alcanena City Council said it had been the target of a computer attack and was making every effort to assess its consequences and “ensure the normal functioning of services.”
This Wednesday, the President explained that some services are limited, namely those related to customer service and administrative areas, noting that employees are doing everything to minimize the situation, keep services running, and that they will be faced with a “cyclopean task” of manual data reset.
“We had to restore some things that used to be done by hand. We will do it again, but we haven’t closed. There are chambers that, in a similar situation, chose to close. We decided not to close, but we are, of course, experiencing difficulties,” admitted Rui Anastasio.
The mayor added that “from Tuesday, lost data will begin to be entered into the system manually and gradually.”
The city council reported the attack and its consequences to the competent authorities such as Revenue and Customs, Social Security and the Court of Auditors. The Judicial Police (PP) is also monitoring the situation, as well as the National Data Protection Commission and the National Cybersecurity Commission.
“At the same time, in order to determine the type and scale of the attack, the municipality of Alcanena has used the services of specialized companies” that carry out forensic examinations, the mayor said.
Pedro Moises, the person in charge of IT services for the Alcanena city council, who was present at the press conference, said the attack was “brutal and sophisticated”, with “great care in eliminating traces and with details that reveal the professionalism” of the author.
“We don’t know who did it or why. It was a devastating attack and we know which country it came from. The attack is not internal, it is external, and we have already informed the SP and the public ministry,” added the chamber president.
The mayor also described an “atypical attack” targeting the “core administrative information” without any ransom demands or evidence of identity theft.
“Until this day [esta quarta-feira] There was no evidence of data theft and ransom demands, which is an atypical situation in the known typology of these attacks,” said Ruy Anastasio.
“To those who tried to force the city council to stop, I want to say that they will not succeed,” he assured, asking for the “greatest understanding” from residents and suppliers.
Expressing regret for the “inconvenience caused,” the mayor assured that he would “make every effort to ensure that this situation is resolved in the short term.”
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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