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St. Joseph City Hall Cyberattack: Data Breach & Fallout
Sep 16, 2025
A cyberattack exposed the data of thousands of St. Joe residents. City officials confirm a data breach after months of reporting. Letters with credit monitoring resources will be sent to roughly 11,000 residents. #cyberattack #databreach #StJoe #NewsPressNow
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0:00
Happy Monday. Thanks for watching News
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Press Now at 5. I'm Charles Christian.
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In an in-depth report, a cyber attack
0:05
was responsible for widespread
0:07
disruptions at city hall that
0:09
potentially expose the exposed the data
0:11
of thousands of St. Joe residents.
0:13
Today, city officials confirm months of
0:16
reporting by News Press Now. Our own
0:18
Cameron Montto is live in the studio for
0:20
the latest in-depth report. Cameron,
0:22
residents will be receiving letters in
0:24
the coming weeks about a possible
0:26
breach. Is that right?
0:28
That's right, Charles. In the next 14
0:30
days, roughly 11,000 residents whose
0:32
personal information may have been
0:34
acquired in that cyber attack on the
0:36
city will be notified with letters that
0:38
contain resources for enrolling in
0:40
credit credit monitoring and identity
0:42
theft protection services. We learned
0:45
from talking with current and ex
0:46
staffers the attack caused entire
0:48
departments to abruptly shut down and
0:50
staff to struggle at certain points for
0:52
days on end. Now, the city has
0:54
officially confirmed this incident,
0:55
saying it's concluded its investigation
0:58
with an outside IT specialist last week.
1:02
City officials and inside sources are
1:04
shedding new light on the extent of a
1:06
cyber attack that brought many city
1:08
services to a complete standstill in
1:10
June and potentially caused a data
1:12
breach of records and personal
1:14
information for thousands of St. Joseph
1:16
residents. The city confirmed Monday
1:18
that the incident first took place on
1:20
June 9th. And while evidence from their
1:22
investigation suggests that no info has
1:24
been misused, it's possible that data,
1:26
including records from the St. Joseph
1:28
police and health departments, may have
1:30
been acquired. A statement from the city
1:32
said that the investigation into this
1:34
incident, determined that certain files
1:36
may have been acquired without
1:37
authorization. After extensive
1:39
electronic discovery, which concluded on
1:41
September 4th, it was determined that
1:43
some personal information may have been
1:45
present in the impacted data set. The
1:47
revelation prompted the city to announce
1:49
today that it would be sending alerts to
1:51
residents who are potentially at risk,
1:53
saying it is fully committed to the
1:55
protection of resident and employee
1:56
information. Multiple current and former
1:59
city employees, including a high-level
2:01
staffer who wished not to be named, told
2:03
News Press Now that behind the scenes,
2:05
the attack virtually shut down their
2:07
department's ability to work for days on
2:09
end, locking her and her staff out of
2:11
network programs, files, and records
2:14
critical for daily operations, including
2:16
access to emails. She described a
2:18
chaotic environment within her
2:20
department as staff struggled and were
2:22
overwhelmed trying to complete normally
2:24
routine daily tasks, including
2:26
coordination with public safety
2:27
departments who were also impacted. She
2:30
said, "The first thing I noticed when I
2:31
came in that Monday was our phones
2:33
didn't work." And then it was we
2:34
couldn't get into anything. Absolutely
2:36
nothing. I kept asking, "What is this?
2:39
What's the problem? What's going on?"
2:41
And then they say we were hacked. We
2:43
couldn't get into any files. Fire
2:44
department, too. I worked closely with
2:46
the fire inspectors. How are we supposed
2:49
to operate? It was mass chaos. There
2:51
should have been some type of public
2:52
announcement that we are struggling
2:54
here. The staffer was one of multiple
2:56
employees who confirmed that ransomware
2:58
and a payment demand was part of the
3:00
incident. A figure that News Press Now
3:02
has been unable to verify. The city
3:04
confirmed that it first detected the
3:05
issue around 2:00 a.m. on June 9th. An
3:08
investigation was quickly initiated with
3:10
the assistance of outside specialists
3:12
and the city's network was immediately
3:14
shut down at all locations as a
3:15
precaution while it conducted its
3:17
inquiry. A sunshine request by News
3:19
Press Now shows that on the same day the
3:21
cyber attack occurred, a high-level
3:23
human resources official was forced to
3:25
use a private Gmail account to
3:27
communicate about government cyber
3:29
security coverage, likely as a result of
3:31
being unable to access normal city
3:33
communications. A sweeping request for
3:35
documents and emails related to the
3:37
incident back in August resulted in just
3:39
a small handful of records being
3:41
provided to Newspress Now until the
3:43
city's recent announcement. In the wake
3:45
of the incident, the city has been
3:46
forced to rebuild affected systems and
3:49
has already spent more than $1 million
3:51
to improve technology and cyber
3:53
security, which documents show was aging
3:55
and in need of upgrades. Yeah. Now,
3:58
Missouri's data breach law requires
3:59
entities that own or license personal
4:02
information of state residents to
4:03
provide notice following any discovery
4:06
or notification of a breach. Notice must
4:08
be made without unreasonable delays
4:10
after discovery of the breach. Reporting
4:12
live in newsroom, Cameron Monttoare,
4:15
News Press
#Computers & Electronics
#Crime & Justice
#Local News
#Public Safety