Minnesota mobilizes National Guard after major St. Paul cyberattack

Date:
Wed, 30 Jul 2025 14:03:00 +0000

Description:
Systems have been shut down in Minnesota to protect St.Paul from further
intrusions following cyberattack.

FULL STORY

Following suspicious activity being detected in the computer networks of the
capital St Paul, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has activated the state's
National Guard to help defend against attackers. 

The attack led to local officials shutting down the information systems in St
Paul as a defensive measure, including network access for a range of internal
applications, in order to contain the threat. Mayor Melvin Carter assured
residents 911 services were operating as normal, but shared that the city has
experienced some back-end challenges; 

"We recognize that these outages have created inconveniences for residents and
city staff alike. While these disruptions are difficult, they are necessary
steps to limit exposure, preserve system integrity, and protect sensitive
information as our investigation and recovery efforts continue," Carter
continued.

A deliberate effort 

The city has been working with Minnesota Information Technology Services as
well as an external cybersecurity vendor, but even still the scale and
complexity of the attack has exceeded both internal and commercial response
capabilities, former Democratic VP candidate Walz explained. 

Its not yet clear if this was a ransomware attack, but a range of networks 
and services have been intentionally and proactively shut down in order to
isolate and secure Minnesota systems. 

These are necessary steps to limit exposure, preserve system integrity and
protect sensitive information argues Carter, who reveals that the breach was
intentionally caused by a criminal, external threat actor. 

"This was not a system glitch or technical error. This was a deliberate,
coordinated digital attack carried out by a sophisticated external actor
intentionally and criminally targeting our citys information infrastructure,"
Carter explained. 

Critical infrastructure is a top target for cybercriminals, who leverage the
importance of the services they provide and the sensitive data they hold to
request higher ransoms. 

The US government recently warned Medusa ransomware has hit hundreds of
critical infrastructure targets in similar incidents - although no threat
actor has yet taken responsibility for this attack. 

 Via; The Record

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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/minnes...
r-st-paul-cyberattack

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