Ransomware halts Foster City
A ransomware attack forced Foster City to suspend most non‑emergency services and officials are preparing to declare a state of emergency — core municipal functions went offline. The outage underscores how a single breach can trigger emergency assistance and prolonged operational disruption for public services. (cbsnews.com) (insider.govtech.com)
Foster City’s IT staff identified ransomware in the early hours of March 19, 2026 and activated incident‑response protocols to contain the intrusion. (fostercity.org: ) (fostercity.org) City Manager Stefan Chatwin said the municipality has engaged outside cybersecurity specialists to assist with remediation and that investigators are still determining whether public information was accessed. (cbsnews.com: ) (cbsnews.com) Officials reported that emergency operations — including 911 and police dispatch — remained functional, while both emergency and non‑emergency police phone lines experienced brief outages before being restored. (sfgate.com: ) (sfgate.com) The City’s public notice urged anyone who has done business with Foster City to change passwords and monitor accounts, and it directed residents to follow the City’s Facebook and X channels for real‑time updates; media inquiries were routed to Communications Manager Austin Walsh at (415) 806‑9683. (fostercity.org: ) (fostercity.org) The City Manager’s Office moved to declare a local state of emergency to unlock supplementary financial and technical assistance from outside agencies as the recovery proceeds. (kron4.com: ) (kron4.com) No ransomware group had publicly claimed responsibility as of the latest city statements, and officials said service restorations and a full scope assessment remain ongoing with timelines still undetermined. (ktvu.com: ) (ktvu.com)
