Cyber Incident Victim: City of Johnstown
Date:
Dec 2022
Location:
United States of America
Summary
A cyberattack targeting the IT provider Dynamic Networks compromised systems for multiple clients, including the City of Johnstown, with the police department experiencing the most severe operational disruptions. The breach rendered certain police data inaccessible, including body camera footage and mayor’s court records, due to the department’s reliance on local storage rather than cloud backups—a cost-driven decision made under prior leadership. While Dynamic Networks restored most city systems from cloud backups and confirmed no ransom payment or data exfiltration occurred, police data recovery remained incomplete. The incident prompted collaboration with federal agencies and internal reviews of cybersecurity practices, highlighting vulnerabilities in backup protocols for high-volume data like surveillance footage.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 3 motives | 1 technique |
| Threat Actors | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 0 actors | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
On December 18, 2022, a cyberattack compromised the systems of Dynamic Networks, the Mount Vernon-based IT provider for the City of Johnstown and approximately 100-150 other central Ohio clients. The breach propagated to Johnstown’s municipal systems, with the police department experiencing the most severe operational disruptions. Dynamic Networks President Darren Richards disclosed the incident to Johnstown City Council on December 19, confirming immediate containment measures including decommissioning infected systems and initiating forensic analysis. No ransom was paid or demanded, and investigators found no evidence of data exfiltration. The company restored approximately 60 client servers within two days using cloud-based backups. However, the police department’s locally stored data—including body camera footage and in-car video archives—remained partially inaccessible due to its exclusion from the city’s cloud backup system.
The attack encrypted police department files, rendering body camera video storage hardware inoperable and nearing maximum capacity without download capability. Mayor’s court records hosted on municipal servers were temporarily affected, though only a daily form template required reconstruction from secondary servers. Former Police Chief Abe Haroon, who oversaw the department’s IT configuration prior to the incident, clarified that cloud backup for video data had been rejected years earlier due to prohibitive storage costs, with city council approving a lower-cost mirror drive solution instead. Current Police Chief Rusty Smart expressed surprise at the backup gap, having assumed full redundancy existed. Dynamic Networks continued recovery efforts for remaining police data while collaborating with the FBI and Department of Homeland Security on attribution. City Manager Sean Stanenart emphasized no sensitive data was stolen, though operational impacts included disrupted evidentiary video management and temporary court form access issues. The incident prompted Mayor Donald Barnard to request enhanced cybersecurity measures, citing concerns that Johnstown’s economic growth could increase its attack surface.