A vendor for the City of Bloomington suffered a ransomware cyberattack early this month. That criminal action disrupted about 1,500 credit and debit card payments to the city, it said in a statement.
BridgePay Network Solutions has been down nationwide since Feb. 5, but the city said the company “has received an Attestation of Compliance from its security auditor and is preparing for an orderly restoration of services.
“We have received approval from several processors and are working quickly to bring gateways back online. We have begun direct outreach to partners with details regarding Go Live specifics. Restorations will occur in a phased and controlled manner to ensure stability and accuracy,” BridgePay said on Tuesday.
The company said it is getting help from the U.S. Secret Service, among other agencies.
“We have engaged both local and federal authorities, along with specialized forensic and recovery teams, to assist with investigation, containment and system restoration. We are also working closely with leading cybersecurity firms to restore operations as quickly and safely as possible,” said BridgePay earlier this month.
It is common for cybercriminals to steal private data before they encrypt someone’s systems and hold them for ransom. BridgePay insisted there’s no evidence payment card data was stolen.
“Initial forensic findings indicate that no payment card data has been compromised and any files that may have been accessed were encrypted. At this time, there is no evidence of usable data exposure,” said BridgePay.
The city also said there’s no indication city systems were compromised.
In ransomware cases where analysts eventually determine there was a loss of data security, companies often offer free temporary credit monitoring to those impacted and advise close monitoring of payment activity on their cards.
A city email to customers said it won’t charge late fees for payments BridgePay did not process and will pull all outstanding balances with the next automatic payment in March.
The city said it has told those not on autopay they will have to make separate arrangements to make a payment for February.
