City of St. Paul hit by cyberattack; Gov. Walz activates Minnesota National Guard originally appeared on Bring Me The News.
Gov. Tim Walz activated the Minnesota National Guard on Tuesday in response to a cyberattack impacting the City of St. Paul.
In a statement around 11:45 a.m., the governor's office said city officials requested the deployment of the National Guard's cyber protection assets because of the "magnitude and complexity of the cybersecurity incident."
“We are committed to working alongside the City of Saint Paul to restore cybersecurity as quickly as possible,” Walz stated. “The Minnesota National Guard’s cyber forces will collaborate with city, state, and federal officials to resolve the situation and mitigate lasting impacts. Above all, we are committed to protecting the safety and security of the people of Saint Paul.”
The city's defensive shutdown as it responds to the breach has caused internet outages in city buildings, disruption to the library system and suspension of network access to a wide range of internal applications, according to city officials.
The Executive Order activated the National Guard can be found here.
Mayor Carter discusses 'deliberate, coordinated' attack
Speaking at a press conference Tuesday, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter said "suspicious activity" was detected on the city's network on Friday, July 25.
Carter said the city responded immediately to the alert and launched an investigation.
"We now know this was not a system glitch or technical error," Carter said. "This was a deliberate, coordinated digital attack carried out by a sophisticated external actor - intentionally and criminally targeting our city's information infrastructure."
State of Emergency declared in St. Paul
The city's Emergency Operations Center has been activated and city leaders have retained two national firms to support the recovery, Carter said.
The city is also working with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to trace the source and scope of the breach.
Carter has declared a local State of Emergency and said the city on Monday initiated a "full shutdown" of the city's information systems as a "defensive measure."
Carter said these measures are intended to isolate the threat and protect sensitive information as recovery efforts continue.
City leaders have not commented on which information, if any, was stolen as the investigation continues.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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This story was originally reported by Bring Me The News on Jul 29, 2025, where it first appeared.
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