Cyber Crime Hits City Of Murrieta Servers

MURRIETA, CA — The city of Murrieta was undergoing "a cyber incident" this week that has impacted its servers, and forensics experts are working "around the clock" to bring a resolution, according to a city spokesperson.

City of Murrieta Public Information Officer Dominique Samario confirmed Wednesday afternoon that the breach was first discovered by the city's information technology team on Monday morning — a holiday.

No estimated timeframe for a resolution was available, but Samario said "the city has remained open" throughout the incident, including police and fire.

"Public safety response has not been compromised," she said. "Our 911 system has never been down."

Samario also released a statement from the city, which was sent to Patch Wednesday afternoon via her city email address. The statement read, "Upon learning of the issue, we took immediate steps to protect our environment to prevent any further harm. ... both police and fire, are intact and have remained intact. This is [the] City’s highest priority. The City’s 911 system continues to be operational. The City of Murrieta’s communications center, serving the communities of both Murrieta and Menifee, has remained functional this entire time and has been dispatching calls without any gaps in service."

Samario denied reports that the city's network was "hijacked" and being held "hostage."

"That's untrue. We are still operating," she said.

An outside forensics team has been brought in to help resolve the situation. Samario could not confirm whether state and/or federal investigators were working on the case.

The city utilizes Microsoft's 365 solution, according to Samario.

"Forensic professionals specializing in cyber security were immediately engaged and we have commenced a thorough analysis and investigation in consultation with outside technical professionals. That investigation is in its early stages and is ongoing," the released city statement read.

A special closed-session City Council meeting was called for 4 p.m. Wednesday; the agenda topic was "threat to public services or facilities." Further details about the meeting were not disclosed although high-ranking city officials were expected to attend.

If the investigation into the cyber incident determines that personal information was breached, those affected will be notified, according to the city's released statement.