Sils Town Hall (Girona) has suffered a computer attack that has hijacked part of the computers and put personal data at risk. The attack is of the ‘ransomware’ type, the same as the Hospital ClÃnic, which has encrypted the files on the computers with an indecipherable key. The mayor, Eduard Colomé, explains that “fundamentally internal and work documents have been affected, but obviously there is also personal data.” The consistory, which has already received an email from the hackers, has not even responded to it and has reported the facts to the Mossos d’Esquadra. Colomé explains that, fortunately, customer service has not been affected because the City Council has a file manager that works through the cloud.
The computer attack on the Sils Town Hall took place on Wednesday of last week. According to the mayor, the pirates encrypted the hard drives of part of the consistory’s computers. “We have just assessed the damage, but it has fundamentally affected internal and work documents; especially technical services, although there are also some administrative and political services,” Colomé specifies.
The attack on the consistory was of the ‘ransomware’ type. Through this system, a set of viruses encrypts computers with an indecipherable key. This is precisely the methodology that was also used in the case of the computer attack on the Hospital ClÃnic, in which the kidnappers stole data with the personal information of patients and workers and affected the center’s hospital activity.
In the case of Sils, after carrying out the attack, the kidnappers contacted the town hall. “They sent us an email telling us to get in touch and that they would show us that they could decrypt the data,” the mayor specifies. The City Council, however, has not responded following the instructions of the Mossos d’Esquadra, to whom they have already denounced the facts.
In parallel, explains Eduard Colomé, from the consistory they have also brought the computer attack to the attention of the Spanish Agency for Data Protection. And this Tuesday, the City Council has also issued a proclamation to alert the public. In writing, the consistory explains that the attack has meant “the impossibility of access to the system itself and to the municipal files”, and that it has caused “a violation of personal data”.
In addition, as access to the databases is “limited”, the Sils City Council also informs that “the provision of services” may be affected.
The mayor says that work is being done to recover “absolute normality” and specifies that, until now, attention to the public, “in general”, has been able to be provided as always. He has helped the Sils City Council have an online file manager, which works with data from the cloud. “Surely, if that had happened to us two years ago, it would have implied that the consistory was paralyzed,” says Colomé.
The mayor of Sils, however, does admit that there are some procedures that have been affected by the seizure of data. “Depending on what you want to do, either it will take longer or it will not be able to be carried out,” Colomé specifies. “To give an example, if you wanted to consult certain Urban Planning plans, and we did not have quick access, that would be occasionally affected, but everything that is ordinary management is guaranteed,” he concludes.
Sils is not the only municipality in the Girona region that has suffered a computer attack. In September 2019, the Lloret de Mar City Council already suffered another, also of the ‘ransomware’ type.
And without going any further, in January of this year, the person affected by another attack was the Bishopric of Girona. In this case, part of the staff received an email impersonating the diocesan administrator, LluÃs Suñer, asking them to make a series of purchases that could involve a scam of up to 2,000 euros.
