Local city declares state of emergency after cyber attack, to use taxpayer money to investigate

HUBER HEIGHTS — A local city has declared a “state of emergency” as it deals with the aftermath of a ransomware attack.

The ransomware caused Huber Heights to use a cell phone to broadcast Monday night’s city council meeting over Facebook.

The meeting happened a day after hackers hit several city departments like human resources and finance.

“It’s very frustrating. Unfortunately, it’s become much more common. A lot of places are getting impacted. It’s as easy as somebody opening the wrong email,” Richard Dzik, Huber Heights City Manager said.

With the declaration of a state of emergency, the city plans to use up to $350,000 of taxpayer money from its general fund to investigate the attack and improve its cybersecurity infrastructure going forward.

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The city’s hoping insurance will reimburse some of that.

Davon Clark and his fiancee Tiffanie Keeton live in the city.

“For them to get on so fast, that’s impressive. They’re not taking any delays,” Clark said.

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The city manager made it clear the hack did not impact public safety.

“911 calls are getting answered. EMS, fire, police they’re all on the road providing the services out there,” Dzik said.

The investigation could take a few weeks, as the city sorts all this out so do many of the residents.

“I think it’s scary because you just don’t know,” Keeton said.

People can check the city’s website and Facebook page for updates at 2 p.m. every day.

The city hopes to restore the impacted services by the end of this week or early next week.

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