Still many unknowns in cyber disruption of Winston-Salem city system

Winston-Salem officials are working to understand the impact of a potential breach of the city’s computer system that was discovered just after Christmas.

What the city is referring to as a “cyber event” has led to the temporary shutdown of the system used to pay utility bills online as well as other services.

In a press conference this week, City Manager Pat Pate would not say if the incident was a ransomware attack.

“We know that there was an anomaly in our system that was captured by our IS folks in the network," he says. "Once they identified that, we shut down any possible opportunities for people to continue to get into the system on an unauthorized basis.”

The incident is being investigated by multiple agencies including the FBI and the North Carolina Joint Cybersecurity Task Force.

Pate says there is no indication that personal data, including credit card information, was taken. But if the investigation determines that it has, city officials will notify those affected.

Pate says there is currently no timeline for when the disrupted services will be restored.