Oakley, Pleasant Hill targeted by cyberattacks on same day

Two cities in Contra Costa County were on the receiving end of cyberattacks on the same day.

As city officials in Oakley and Pleasant Hill investigate what took place, cybersecurity experts say it’s a threat that cities must prepare for.

Professor Levant Artul, the department chair of computer sciences at Cal State East Bay, expressed his concerns following Thursday’s ransomware attack on the city of Oakley.

“Local governments are pretty small and they lack of resources and they lack of security planning for these systems,” he said.

There was a local state of emergency is in place for Oakley. While the attack did not impact emergency services, the city said people should expect delays for non-emergency services, while services are restored.

Danielle Navarro, assistant manager for the city of Oakley released the following statement on Friday:

“The city of Oakley team continues to perform an extensive analysis of the ransomware attack that began yesterday. The city’s network remains offline at this time as city departments develop plans to continue to provide services safely to the public. We are committed to being as transparent as we can without compromising the investigation.”

Meanwhile in Pleasant Hill, they were also dealing with a cyberattack on Thursday.

It’s not clear if the two incidents are related, but police said the one in Pleasant Hill also targeted the city’s infrastructure. They added that it was spotted quickly and isolated and didn’t cause any damage or delay to city services or public safety.

As for the future of cyberattacks, Artul believes the time is now for cities to get prepared.

“They have to train people but most importantly before anything else, they have to back up their data. They don’t have to keep data in one place,” he said.