Officials based at the City of Del Rio , in Texas , were forced to abandon electronic services and switch to pen and paper after a ransomware attack Attack.Ransom effectively closed down City Hall servers . City representatives disclosed the cyberattack last week . The city was struck Attack.Ransom by the ransomware on Thursday , leading to all servers being disabled to prevent further spread . Del Rio 's Management Information Services ( MIS ) department then attempted to isolate the malware by turning off all Internet connections for other city departments . In turn , this prevented any members of staff from logging into government systems . As a result , employees of each department were forced to use pen and paper in their work and go back to manual entry for transactions taking place -- as and when they could considering there was no access to historical records -- while the ransomware was contained . City officials have informed the FBI of the cyberattack and the Secret Service has now become involved in attempts to find out who is responsible . It is not known at present who is behind the ransomware , what kind of malware is at fault , or whether or not any personal data has been compromised Attack.Databreach . The Texan city has also not revealed how much the ransomware demanded in payment Attack.Ransom , as is usually the case with this particular form of malware . Ransoms Attack.Ransom are usually requested in return for a decryption key -- which may or may not work -- in order to unlock encrypted systems and restore access . However , a Del Rio City Hall spokeswoman did reveal that the malware is somewhat unusual , as the ransom note posted to roughly 30 - 45 PCs contained a phone number to be used to pay the blackmail Attack.Ransom fee . Most of the time , a note will be posted on a landing page containing instructions for paying ransom Attack.Ransom in cryptocurrency and victims will be given a wallet address , rather than a means to directly call the malware 's operator . `` The City is diligently working on finding the best solution to resolve this situation and restore the system , '' an official statement reads . `` We ask the public to be patient with us as we may be slower in processing requests at this time . ''