City employees start second week without email after cyber attack, but Troup ‘feeling better’ problem will be solved this week

QUINCY — Quincy Mayor Mike Troup says city officials are still investigating how and why the emails for city employees have been unavailable after they discovered a cyber attack on May 7, but he believes light is at the end of the tunnel.

“I finally do, yeah,” Troup said after Monday’s City Council meeting. “I’m feeling better.”

Aldermen met in executive session for about 75 minutes Monday for the second consecutive week to discuss personnel matters and “security procedures/security threats.” Troup says the issue is still “in the investigation stage,” but he believes city employees will have access to their emails by the end of the day Tuesday.

“There’s still some information that we’re locking up just to make sure we know what’s infected or not infected.” Troup said. “The email was probably the one thing that really crushed us. That affected all departments.”

The mayor stressed that many departments, such as sanitation, sewer, the water treatment plant, Central Services and others, continued to do their work without access to email. Payments for utilities are being taken by cash or check, but payment by credit card is still unavailable.

“I’m hoping that this week, we’re going to have that corrected,” Troup said of the credit card payments.

Troup said last week the attack apparently started at the Quincy Public Library before spreading through other departments. He first learned of the problem when operations in the fire and police departments were affected on a Saturday. The information technology department quickly shut down the email server.

“We’re slowly going through and looking at, OK, what was affected in here?” Troup said. “That is a time-consuming activity to go through, and we’re continuing to do that.”

Troup would not confirm if cyber attack was ransomware

Troup said the cyber attack didn’t prevent the city from meeting payroll last week, but not all vendors were paid.

“We should be caught up with that within a week,” he said.

Asked if he could confirm if the cyber attack was a ransomware, Troup replied, “We don’t. We’re still in a part of that evaluation.”

Ransomware is a type of malicious software that infects a computer and restricts users’ access to it until a ransom is paid to unlock it. Typically, these alerts state that the user’s systems are locked or that the user’s files are encrypted. Users are told that unless a ransom is paid, access will not be restored.

Troup said outside help has been used to assist the three people in the city’s IT department.

“There’s not enough hours in the day for the crew that we have,” he said.

Troup hopes to learn who caused the cyber attack and why it was done.

“I don’t know that we will be ever able to find answers to all of our questions,” he said. 

Changes in engineering department tabled

Aldermen tabled the mayor’s appointment of Steve Bange as engineering manager until they vote on an ordinance to create a director of public works, which received a first reading on Monday. Troup explained that Jeff Conte, director of engineering and utilities, will become the director of public works, and Bange would pick up some of Conte’s duties to supervise the engineering department. The city hired an additional engineer in April.

Troup explained the director of central services will report to the director of public works. 

“There’s some other work that we can do with that reorganization,” he told aldermen. “We’re looking to have more efficiencies and get more projects with that overall management.”

Fletcher tells new police chief, ‘I will always have your back’

Alderman Greg Fletcher (R-1) called interim police chief Adam Yates to the lectern in front of the City Council near the end of the 19-minute meeting. Yates accepted on Friday an offer from the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners to become the chief of the Quincy Police Department. He took the job after Jonathan Lewin rejected the offer earlier in the day.

“I want to start off by thanking Shannon Pilkington and Jonathan Lewin for throwing their hats in the ring and making the process the best it could be,” Fletcher said. “To do that took courage, and the city is better for them doing it. That said, I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. I’ve only known Adam for a short while, but I couldn’t be more impressed with his gentlemanly (way). Adam is easy to work with, thoughtful and incredibly hardworking.

“Chief (Rob) Copley tells me Adam is going to be our 33rd police chief. I think we found the one guy with feet big enough to fill Chief Copley’s shoes, and those are some pretty big clodhoppers. Teddy Roosevelt, as New York City police commissioner, told his officers, ‘Don’t flinch, don’t foul and hit the line hard.’ I know Adam will take these words to heart and keep Quincy safe. I want you to know I will be praying for you. I will support you, and I will always have your back.”

Aldermen also approved:

• A request from Scott Edlin, owner of On the Rail, 129 S. Fourth, to have a music festival on Aug. 19-20 from 5 p.m. to midnight each day.
• Troup’s appointment of Carrie Potter as director of human resources.
• A bid of $9,555 from Logisys to create the interface necessary for the newly acquired Quincy Fire Department reporting system.
• A bid of $3,503 from Sentinel Emergency Services for the preventative maintenance and air quality testing of breathing air compressors, and a bid of $5,330 from Sentinel for preventative maintenance and flow test of the self-contained breathing apparatus packs and bottles.