← City of Columbia, South Carolina

2026 City of Columbia, SC — network security incident; online citizen services offline (data unconfirmed)

2026 Unknown records affected Share on X

Data compromised

Not confirmed. The city has not said whether residents’ data was accessed or taken. Affected: MyColaSC resident portal (utility bills and service requests), business licensing, parks and recreation, planning and development, GIS and animal services. Unaffected per the city: public safety and utility systems.

Technical writeup

Verified via city statements as reported by WIS-TV and The Post and Courier (Oct 20–21, 2026). The city disclosed the incident on Oct 20 after IT staff spotted suspicious activity on the municipal network. SLED leads the investigation. Services offline include MyColaSC, business licensing, parks and recreation, planning and development, GIS and animal services; the city says critical public safety and utility systems remain operational, and residents are being directed to a phone line (803-545-3300). No restoration estimate given. Neither ransomware nor data theft has been confirmed or ruled out, and no group has claimed the attack as of Oct 21. recordsAffected 0 (data impact unknown). companyConfirmed true (incident confirmed; scope unconfirmed).

Root cause

Not disclosed. City IT detected suspicious activity on the municipal network and reported it to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), which is leading the investigation.

References

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