City of Novi Sad

The City of Novi Sad is the municipal authority responsible for governing the city of Novi Sad in Serbia. It provides a range of public services to residents, including urban planning, maintenance of public infrastructure, sanitation, and local administrative functions. As a local government body, it oversees budgeting, public safety coordination, and cultural and educational initiatives within its jurisdiction. The organisation operates under the legal framework of Serbian municipal law and is accountable to the city's citizens and elected officials. Its primary scope is limited to the territorial boundaries of Novi Sad and its surrounding administrative area.

In March 2020, the City of Novi Sad experienced a ransomware attack carried out by the PwndLocker group, which encrypted parts of its network and exfiltrated sensitive data. The attackers demanded payment in Bitcoin through a Tor‑based portal and threatened to release the stolen information if the ransom was not paid. The ransomware disabled critical Windows services, terminated security‑related processes, and deleted Shadow Volume Copies to impede recovery efforts. Files were given extensions such as .key or .pwnd, while certain system directories and file types were excluded from encryption. The incident caused operational disruptions, including the interruption of backup solutions and database services, highlighting vulnerabilities in the municipality's cyber‑deficiencies in the municipality's cyber‑defenses.