The Long Beach City Council has called a special meeting Friday to declare a local emergency in response to a cybersecurity breach earlier this week.
Some city systems, including the main public website, are offline after the breach, and it could take several days before all services are restored, according to a written statement and a city spokesperson.
The city is currently unable to process utility bill payments online or in person, according to spokesperson Chelsey Magallon, and a post on the utilities’ Instagram account Thursday said the call center was offline.
Emergency services are still operating, according to the city, which said “at this time, there is no indication” the incident affected the city’s police department, fire department or emergency operations center.
Anyone can still call 911 for emergencies or the city’s non-emergency dispatch line at 562-435-6711.
City Hall and city departments remain open and most phone and email systems are apparently working.
As of Thursday afternoon, the city would not provide a list of which systems and services were down and would not say whether the ongoing situation would affect services such as trash pickup and provision of utilities.
Officials also declined to say whether any critical city data or personal information of Long Beach residents or businesses had been compromised.
“The City is committed to keeping the public informed of new developments and potential impacts to public services and to our community,” Magallon said in an email, adding that press releases will be sent out as information becomes available.
“As this is a fluid, ongoing investigation, additional details may emerge as the investigation continues.”
A statement sent out Wednesday night said the city learned Tuesday that there may have been a cybersecurity incident, and the city’s Department of Technology and Innovation started an investigation with help from a consultant and the FBI.
“Through the investigation it was determined a network security incident occurred,” the city’s statement said.
City officials said the technology and cybersecurity teams are working to identify the source and scope of the incident, assess potential vulnerabilities and implement additional security measures. The teams are also gathering recommendations on response and recovery plans.
No additional details were available, but the city said it would provide updates at longbeach.gov as it gathers more information.
The city urged people to follow its official accounts on Facebook, X and Instagram for updates as well.
The City Council will meet at noon Friday at Long Beach City City College’s Liberal Arts Campus, 4901 E. Carson St., in room 1100 of Building T.
City News Service contributed to this report.