The capital city of South Carolina, **Columbia**, with approximately 150,000 residents, announced it is actively responding to a cyberattack that has crippled various municipal systems. The city's IT department detected suspicious activity, prompting an immediate investigation led by the **South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED)**. ### Impact on Citizen Services The attack has rendered the **MyColaSC** platform inoperable. This crucial online portal allows residents to pay utility bills, report non-emergency issues, and access other vital city services. In addition to MyColaSC, **Geographic Information Systems (GIS)** and systems supporting animal services have also been affected. Residents have been advised to call directly to report concerns such as potholes, fallen trees, and broken streetlights during the outage. ### Operational Resilience and Ongoing Investigation City officials have reassured residents that essential public safety and utility infrastructure remains intact. The **Columbia Police Department**, **Columbia-Richland Fire Department**, **911 communications**, **Columbia Water systems**, and the **Payment Center** (including online payment services) are all reportedly operational. As of Wednesday, the city has not confirmed whether the incident is a ransomware attack, nor has any hacking group claimed responsibility. SLED has refrained from commenting, directing all inquiries to Columbia officials. ### A Growing Trend Among Municipalities Columbia's incident is not isolated. The state of South Carolina has previously experienced a ransomware attack on **Spartanburg County** and a recent disruption affecting the non-profit hospital system **AnMed**. Across the United States, numerous smaller counties, cities, and towns have fallen victim to cyberattacks and ransomware in recent weeks. Outages due to cyber incidents have been reported in municipalities in Maryland, Utah, Texas, Nebraska, Missouri, Alaska, and Arizona over the past three weeks, highlighting a pervasive and escalating threat landscape for local government entities.