最新杏吧原创

For weeks, the city attributed the disruption to "server issues." On Wednesday, communications manager Jared Jones told the 最新杏吧原创 Post-Dispatch that UCity's network was targeted with "malicious intent."

"The cyberattack disrupted network connections and prevented access to several essential city systems and online services," Jones said in an email. "Once the activity was identified, the city worked with its technology and cybersecurity partners to stop the attack and begin rebuilding and restoring the affected systems."

The city had found no evidence that residents' personal information has been accessed as of Wednesday, Jones said. "The malicious activity was stopped before personal information could be taken."

The attack affected all credit and debit card payments to the city, including for parking tickets, city trash collection and more. Essential public safety operations have continued without interruption, the city posted online.

For payments and issuing permits, city staff have reverted to manual processes, directing residents to rely on phone calls and in-person visits to City Hall.

Beth Herbster, a real estate agent who has lived in University City for 25 years, first noticed issues this spring when she was unable to pay her refuse bill online. She paid it in person.

Herbster called the city's communication "poor," and said the city's brief updates on Facebook and its own website are insufficient.聽

"It makes people suspicious, like, what else is going on that we're not told about?" Herbster said.

She said Wednesday she was disappointed the city wasn't transparent with residents.

"I'm pretty pissed that it has not been broadcast," she said. "Why didn't they say that to us?"

The cyberattack on University City is the latest instance of malicious actors targeting local governments across the region. In May 2024, a breach knocked out Kansas City's digital infrastructure, with officials initially offering little explanation for a prolonged outage.

In early June 2025, a ransomware attack crippled network services in St. Joseph, Missouri, and forced officials to authorize more than $1 million to update the city's servers and firewalls.

Even before the attack, UCity planned to move its accounting software to the cloud and had allocated $170,000 for the transition. The city has been using its own local servers to host the software it uses for city operations, and moving to the cloud could make it easier to restore services in the event of a future outage.聽

The city has contracted聽Tyler Technologies to host the services on the company's cloud.

The city had also planned to update its aging network infrastructure for city hall, the police department, remote city offices and the municipal parking garage, according to its proposed fiscal 2027 budget.聽

The city's confirmation of the cyberattack marks a departure from its previous communications. The city initially posted a "News Flash" to its website and Facebook page on June 17, alerting the public to the network outage, apologizing for the inconvenience, and stating that the IT team was actively working to restore services.

An update posted to Facebook on June 22 provided no further clarification on the nature of the outage.

When the Post-Dispatch asked the city on July 15 if it was a cyberattack, the city referred back to the previous posts.

UCity's systems are being rebuilt and restored in phases to maintain security, but the city "does not currently have a confirmed date for full restoration," Jones said.