When City of Selma employees returned to work Tuesday following the Labor Day holiday, they found that the city’s computer system, run on Tyler Technologies’ New World Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, had been crippled by a cyber attack the day before.

Few details were available, as one department after another declined to answer questions about the attack and insisted that all inquiries must go through Selma Mayor Darrio Melton’s office, despite the fact that his office was not handling efforts to remedy the situation.

The city’s Information Technology (IT) Department declined to comment, directing questions to Melton, but confirmed that the mayor was not overseeing efforts to repair the damaged system, which maintains all of the city’s databases, including human resources, finances and more.

The Selma Police Department (SPD) confirmed that its computers had been downed as a result of the attack, as did Selma Fire Department (SFD) Acting Chief Chris Graham, though he also pushed any questions about the issue onto the mayor’s office.

According to City Treasurer Ronita Wade, employees in her office were unable to enter the computer system Tuesday morning, with even basic functions stalled as a result of the attack, and were having trouble handling direct deposit for city employees, which has to be processed in the next day or so.

Wade said that IT Department Director Betsy Curtis informed her that the problem was being addressed before elaborating on the fact that the attack was the result of ransomware and it may have impacted the city’s backup system as well.

For her part, Wade is most concerned about the possible compromise of the city’s backup system, which she said should have been housed at a “remote location” and inaccessible to any wrongdoers.

While many questions have been raised about the timing of the attack, which took place on a holiday and comes not long after the arrival of examiners looking to investigate a bevy of city financial documents, Wade does not believe the cyber attack will impact the examiners’ work.

“It should not impede what’s happening,” Wade said. “As long as you’ve got a bank statement…and checks that were written, they should still be able to do their research.”

In a message disseminated to various city leaders, Melton stated that he was briefed on the hack by the IT Department Tuesday morning.

“As mayor, I find this deliberate and criminal act suspect given the latest investigations into the city’s finances,” Melton’s statement to city leaders read. “I have brought this criminal and sabotaging act to the state and federal authorities’ attention.”

Melton’s message concluded by stating that no more information could currently be shared with the public.

Neither Melton nor media representatives from Tyler Technologies responded to requests for comment.