Hayward's website and other services down due to cyberattack

The website of the city of Hayward experienced an outage on Monday as a result of a cyberattack that occurred over the weeken.

According to city officials, they have found no evidence of personal data belonging to employees or the public being compromised in the incident. Other services like public library wifi and online catalogues are also down and the city officials have asked the patrons to browse the libraries "the old fashioned way".

No details are available as to the nature of the attack, but the shutting down of systems indicates a ransomware type of attack.

Despite the website being down, essential services such as 911, emergency dispatching, police, firefighter, and emergency-medical services are still operational.

In the meantime, the public can continue to engage with the city via telephone, mail, or in-person visits. IT professionals are actively investigating the breach, and in the event of any personal data breach, the affected individuals will be notified directly.

Update - as of 24th of July the city's systems are mostly back online. Apparently there is no evidence of information breach or theft, though any affected individuals will be contacted directly.

The final restored system was the Computer Aided Dispatch, used for Hayward's 911 Center and emergency dispatch. While most systems are now operational, some related to library bill services and water bill payments are still not fully functional. The city of Hayward has not disclosed further information about the ransomware investigation, including the identities of the intruders, involved parties, or the exact ransom demanded.