The City of New Britain, faced a ransomware attack disrupting phone and internet systems while essential services remained operational.
Local officials told WFSB that what was initially believed to be a possible cyber incident was later confirmed to be a ransomware attack that began early Wednesday morning.
The New Britain Police Department was first alerted to a disruption affecting several city systems, including internet and phone services. After identifying the issue, city officials activated their incident response protocols and began coordinating with state and federal authorities to evaluate the extent and potential impact of the attack.
Mayor Bobby Sanchez said the city is still working to determine how much of its network infrastructure was affected.
“We are in the process of identifying which parts of the city’s network were impacted, and that takes time,” Sanchez said.
Officials emphasized that emergency services remained fully operational throughout the disruption. Police, fire, and emergency dispatch services continued to function, and essential city services were not interrupted.
“Public safety services are still running, and the city continues to provide essential services,” Sanchez said. “There has been no disruption to emergency response, and we are taking every possible step to minimize the impact on residents, businesses, and city operations.”
The city has brought in additional technical support and cybersecurity specialists to assess the damage and restore systems as quickly as possible. The FBI, along with state and federal agencies, is assisting with the investigation.
Officials noted that it is still too early to determine whether any personal data stored on city servers was compromised. WFSB reported that officials expect city operations to be restored by the weekend.
Municipalities and critical infrastructure are frequent targets for cyber-criminals due to their vulnerability to service disruptions and the pressure to resume operations quickly—factors attackers often hope will lead governments to pay a ransom.
“Government has a no-fail mission—they have to keep running,” Weber said. “You can’t just shut down a police or fire department, and you certainly can’t pause public works for a week.”
Reports are sourced from official documents, law-enforcement updates, and credible investigations.
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