It has been a dark few weeks for Atlanta, after suffering one of the most crippling cyberattacks ever thrust upon a major American city.

The vicious ransomware attack encrypted scores of city files with the SamSam virus and barred access to multiple municipal departments, including important court services. Atlanta’s water department was forced to take down its website as a result of the attack, telling residents the site “will be offline for server maintenance and updates until further notice.”

According to WSB-TV, the cyberattack was also causing problems for the Atlanta Police Department’s evidence department, with some people reporting difficulties retrieving items seized by the police as evidence. The disruptive ripples of this attack are wide reaching.

“The major cyberattacks in Atlanta are a great example for showing that preparedness is key. They were not ready on the planning or prevention side of things, and, unfortunately, they weren’t prepared to remediate and recovery quickly from the attacks either,” commented Keith Moore, CEO of CyberPolicy.

To read the full article, head over to the Insurance Business America.