City Of Tulsa Advises Residents To Monitor Personal Information After Ransomware Attack

The City of Tulsa cautions residents to keep a close eye on personal information following the recent ransomware attack.

The city of Tulsa said anyone who filed a police report may have their personal information on the dark web. City officials said the information is part of the nearly 19,000 files leaked after a ransomware attack.

Related Story: 18,000 Tulsa City Files Leaked In Ransomware Attack

The city said most files on the Dark Web are from online police reports and employee files. They also said anyone who made a payment to the city needs to monitor their accounts.

"As a Tulsan I was shocked," said Allie Diaz.

"Super scary, you don't want your information out there," said Alex Walenta.

Tulsans said the news that their personal information may be on the Dark Web is alarming. The city said it found out Tuesday nearly 19,000 files were shared to the Dark Web by the person or people responsible for a ransomware attack last month.

"The files were primarily online police reports and employee files," said Michael Dellinger with the city of Tulsa.

Chief Information Officer Michael Dellinger said those files have some personally identifiable information like your name, date of birth, address, and driver's license.

He said any citizens who made a payment, filed a police report, or got a ticket, or shared any personal information with the city before May 8 need to monitor their accounts and credit and debit card information, and also change their passwords.

"Our data is everywhere, and each and every one of us have to look at the people we do business with," Dellinger said.

Dellinger said it could be October before the city is fully restored after the ransomware attack but said authorities have identified who did it and they've fully rebuilt their network to prevent future attacks.

"We have actually rebuilt our entire network and strengthened that network to prevent from future attacks, so I think from that perspective, there's a light at the end of the tunnel," Dellinger said.

Alex Walenta just found out and said she's going to check all her accounts.

"You go and change all your passwords, but it doesn't really matter if it's already out there," Walenta said.

"We all pay bills, we all trust the city, and knowing anybody giving info is in harm's way is concerning," Diaz said.

The city said its water bills are on a different system, so they don't think those were compromised. The city said its Incident Response Team and federal authorities are investigating the data breach and monitoring any information being shared.