Anyone who passed by the Pavilhão Multiusos de Fafe on Wednesday night, where a sports competition was taking place, must have initially thought that they were seeing poorly the images of a pornographic film that was being broadcast on a digital billboard, one of the equipment that the Chamber was going to officially inaugurate this Thursday, as part of the 25th of April ceremonies. In truth no. The municipality was the target of a computer attack, which resulted in the usual institutional information being replaced by images from adult films.
“One of our supports was used to broadcast an unauthorized video, with which the Municipality does not identify, repudiates, and we immediately took the measures that are included in the public administration’s cybersecurity plans”, said this Thursday Paula Nogueira, councilor for Tourism, during the presentation of the “Fafe Digital” project.
The councilor guarantees that “it was an attack on a post and not the entire network, which shows protection, that it respects the rules, and that we are attentive and have instruments to detect”, he highlighted, highlighting that the municipality immediately transmitted what happened to the National Cybersecurity Center, “as is mandatory, and which then activates all the legal procedure before the judicial and police authorities”. According to Paula Nogueira, it is this center that triggers the entire process “which involves identifying the author or authors of the cyber attack and adopting other measures”.
Convinced that despite this attack the municipality’s IT system is secure, the person in charge wanted to convey the message that “the maxim of ‘once on the internet, forever on the internet’ also works for the criminal, “which means that this person or people are currently under investigation and will be easily detected because we have access logins and IP records”. “It will be very easy to detect by the authorities and this will serve as a warning”, she warned.
The network of interactive digital billboards, according to municipal information, aims to provide “information aimed at residents and visitors”, namely about “transport timetables, cultural and sporting agenda and tourist information of interest, such as places to visit, accommodation and restaurants”.
When at rest, according to the municipality, digital billboards “activate continuous information relating to events and activities on the agenda”. This digital system also makes it possible to consult public notices and official municipal documents.
