Cyberattack Disrupts City Services in Columbia, South Carolina, as Local Government Attacks Mount

The city of Columbia, South Carolina, home to about 150,000 residents, says it is responding to a cyberattack that has taken several government systems offline. The city's IT department identified suspicious activity and contacted the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), which is now leading the investigation. Affected systems include the MyColaSC platform, which residents use to pay utility bills and report non-emergency issues, as well as mapping systems and those supporting animal services. Residents were asked to phone in problems such as potholes, fallen trees and broken streetlights while the platform was down.

City officials said critical services remain operational, including police, fire, 911 communications, water systems and the Payment Center, which includes online payments. The city did not answer questions about whether this is a ransomware attack, and no hacking group had claimed responsibility as of Wednesday. SLED declined to comment and referred questions to the city.

The incident comes amid a wave of attacks on local governments. South Carolina has previously seen a ransomware attack on Spartanburg County and a recent incident that shut down systems at the AnMed hospital system. Cities and counties in Maryland, New Mexico, Utah, Texas, Nebraska, Missouri, Alaska and Arizona have also reported service outages from cyberattacks and ransomware over the last three weeks.