Earlier this week, St. Paul, Minnesota, experienced a massive cyberattack that knocked the entire city’s digital infrastructure offline—no public Wi-Fi, no internal servers, and no municipal systems. This unprecedented blackout left government offices, transit systems, and essential services unable to access email, records, or online tools, crippling day-to-day operations.

Governor Tim Walz, characterizing the incident as “a deliberate, coordinated attack,” declared a state of emergency and activated the Minnesota National Guard’s Cyber Protection Unit. The Guard’s specialists are now working around the clock to trace the intruders, assess which systems were accessed or exfiltrated, and shore up defenses against further incursions.

Mayor Melvin Carter warned residents in a statement: “This was not a glitch. It was a criminal assault on our city’s digital backbone,” emphasizing the attack’s sophistication and intent. Local officials are still piecing together exactly how the breach was carried out and what, if any, data may have been compromised.

With no major national coverage so far, many are asking whether St. Paul was merely a test target—or the first strike in a broader campaign against U.S. municipalities. As investigators and Guard cyber-warriors dig in, the incident underscores how vulnerable even well-resourced cities can be to state-level or criminal hacking operations.