The City of Columbia, South Carolina, has taken several systems offline after its IT staff identified suspicious activity. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is leading the investigation, and the city has not said whether the incident involves ransomware.
Which Columbia City Services Are Down
IT staff spotted the activity around October 21 and contacted the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, known as SLED. Systems taken offline include the MyColaSC portal, which residents use for utility bills and non-emergency reports, the city’s GIS systems and its animal services systems.
Columbia Police, Fire, 911 and Water Services Remain Running
Police, fire, 911 communications and Columbia Water continue to operate. The Payment Center is also working, including online payments. No public safety or water disruption has been reported. The city set up a phone-based fallback for service requests, and the state has offered assistance.
SLED Takes the Lead as Columbia Investigates the Intrusion
SLED, the state law enforcement agency, now directs the investigation, and the state has offered further assistance to the city. Columbia has not described the nature of the suspicious activity beyond saying that its IT staff identified it and that it led to systems being taken offline.
Ransomware Not Confirmed and No Group Has Claimed the Attack
The city did not say whether the incident is ransomware. As of Wednesday, no group had claimed responsibility. The city, with about 150,000 residents, has released limited detail about how the activity was discovered or what systems the intruders reached.
The lack of a claim leaves open whether the incident will follow the common sequence in which a ransomware group posts a victim on a leak site after negotiations stall. The city has not described any ransom demand.
A Run of Municipal Attacks Across the United States
The Record noted that recent municipal attacks have been reported in Maryland, New Mexico, Utah, Texas, Nebraska, Missouri, Alaska and Arizona over the past three weeks. In South Carolina, Spartanburg County has been hit by ransomware, and the AnMed hospital system has reported an incident.
Local Government as a Repeated Target
The list of states shows the attacks are geographically dispersed rather than concentrated in one region. The Record’s reporting does not link the incidents to each other or to a single group, and the Columbia city statement does not either.
Impact on Columbia Residents Using the MyColaSC Portal
The effect for residents is limited to online city service portals. Those who use MyColaSC cannot handle utility bills through that portal or file non-emergency reports there, though the Payment Center and its online payments remain available. Residents can use the phone-based fallback for service requests.
What Columbia Has Not Said About the Cyberattack
The city has not said whether any resident data was accessed, how long systems will remain offline or whether the incident has affected internal systems beyond the three named. SLED’s lead role in the investigation indicates the matter has been treated as a state-level law enforcement case from the start.
The systems taken offline are those tied to resident-facing portals, mapping and animal services rather than core emergency functions. 911, fire, water and the Payment Center kept running, but the city has not described its network design or said why those services were unaffected.
The Record’s roundup of attacks in other states and in South Carolina places Columbia among a series of public-sector incidents in recent weeks, including the Spartanburg County ransomware attack and the AnMed hospital system incident. Neither the city nor SLED has said whether Columbia’s case is connected to any of them.
