Malware attack disrupts services in the City of Oak Ridge, Tennessee

The City of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a community of about 31,000 people best known for its role in the Manhattan Project, was struck by a cyberattack on the morning of Monday 20 March 2023 and made the incident public later that week.

City officials said the attack took down the municipal network, affecting the city website, staff email and the utility billing system. Residents conducting city business were asked to telephone departments rather than email them, and municipal court dates were pushed back by around 30 days.

Police and fire services were not affected and 911 continued to operate normally. With utility payments unavailable, the city said it would not charge late fees or disconnect customers while systems were down, and it subsequently waived penalties for March and April. Deputy City Manager Jack Suggs said residents would not face late fees or cut offs.

Suggs said restoring the network would take weeks rather than days, and that outside specialists in cyber recovery had been brought in alongside law enforcement. In the days after the attack officials said it was too early to say whether data had been taken, and the city later reported no evidence that credit card, taxpayer or utility customer information had been compromised. The city consistently described the incident as a malware attack, while The Record and SC Media reported it as ransomware.