Ransomware Hits Tennessee City's Emergency Services Two branches of a Tennessee city's emergency services have been hit by ransomware as part of a worldwide malware attack that began in May. July 6, 2017, at 12:10 p.m.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) — Two branches of a Tennessee city's emergency services have been hit by ransomware as part of a worldwide malware attack that began in May.

The Daily News Journal reports the Murfreesboro police and fire departments were recently attacked by the WannaCry ransomware, which targets organizations using Microsoft Windows operating systems. Police spokeswoman Amy Norville says the department does not know when the malware was introduced into the system, but became aware of the attack last Saturday.

Norville says most of the affected data is not retrievable, and it is unclear if any significant files have been lost. Two file servers and 19 computers within the police department's system were breached.

Norville says staff took the system offline and is working to restore the servers.

Information from: The Daily News Journal, http://www.dnj.com

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Comments: Its not a good thing when a cities' emergency services branch is crippled by ransomeware attacks. The only good that can be expected from this type of event will be an improvement in the cities defenses against future such attacks. This should be treated as a lessons learned moment and time to tally up the costs for not being prepared to repel the attack.