A city spokesperson told Recorded Future News that Columbia, South Carolina, is responding to a cyberattack, The Record reported. City IT staff saw suspicious activity and called the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), which now leads the investigation. The attack took down MyColaSC, where residents pay utility bills and report non-emergency problems. It also hit the city's mapping systems, known as GIS, and systems behind animal services. Columbia is the state capital and has about 150,000 residents.
The city did not say whether this is ransomware, and no hacking group had claimed it as of Wednesday. The sources do not say when it began, how the attackers got in, or when MyColaSC will return. A city official said police, fire, 911, Columbia Water and the Payment Center, online payments included, still work. Until the portal is back, residents are asked to phone in issues like potholes.
The split matters. Resident-facing tools like portals and maps are usually ordinary business software, while 911 and water systems are often kept on separate networks so trouble cannot spread. That is general context; the sources do not describe how Columbia built its systems. Buyers and budget signers can ask which systems share a network, which come back first, and what phone or paper backup exists.