Ransomware delays Dallas permit: ‘I’ve never had to wait weeks for a fence…’

Blake Smith was confused when his contractor told him in late June that the city of Dallas still hadn’t approved his application for a new fence.

It had been three weeks since Smith’s contractor submitted an application to the city to replace the chain-link fence around her South Oak Cliff home with a higher wooden fence.

So Smith said he called Dallas’ Office of Development Services, which issues permits, to get an answer. Smith was told the review of the application could take another two to six weeks.

“They blamed the whole thing on ransomware,” said Smith, 33, who bought his home in October. He’s getting new fencing installed to keep his German shepherd in the backyard. “I didn’t know this was an issue until I called about the delay. It’s been frustrating.”

Two months after the May 3 ransomware attack in Dallas, the effects still remain. City officials told The Dallas Morning News this week that 97% of its network has been restored two months after the cyberattack, up from 90% last month. But the city still won’t publicly disclose all the services affected, leaving residents like Smith with problems when seeking city assistance.

Smith said when he called the city on Wednesday he was told his permit could take another week to be reviewed. His application is one of nearly 300 city permit requests for fencing, roof replacement, foundation repair and demolition whose review has been delayed due to ramifications related to the ransomware attack, according to the city. The delay was caused by problems with the city’s mapping software and staff being unable to access internal shared drives.

The number stood at 870 as of June 30, according to a memo sent to the mayor and city council members. City officials said development services employees are working overtime and on weekends to meet the backlog.

“The May 2023 ransomware attack affected and limited the ability of employees to access internal shared drives and GIS zoning maps, which are fundamental tools in the plan review process,” the memo said. “These limitations caused major delays in the issuance of permits.”

The latest round of delays at Dallas’ Department of Development Services comes amid the city’s recent efforts to reduce the time taken for issuing residential and commercial building permits by several months. Department officials said it took staff an average of five days to review residential permits in May, compared to 58 days in May 2022 and 72 days in May 2021.

New applications for permits such as new fences are now being processed in one to three business days, said Katherine Kueller, the city’s director of communications, outreach and marketing, while staff are also working to clear the backlog of other applications. who have been waiting for a long time. He said that the backlog is expected to be cleared by July 17.

“Restoration is 97% complete since May 3, prioritizing public safety and public-facing services, and the remaining restoration of service is internal,” Kueller said.

Kueller answered questions from City Manager TC Broadnex, Development Services Director Andrew Espinoza and other supervisors with the Office of Permits. Espinoza is out of office until Monday.

Ismail Soriano of Hi-Def Exteriors, who is Smith’s contractor, said it usually takes one to three days to obtain a permit for a fence in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He said he submitted the application for Smith’s property to Dallas on June 7 and said he was not told at the time that there would be a problem getting the fence permit in time.

As days turned to weeks, Soriano said he thinks the delays are because the city has struggled to issue residential and commercial building permits in a timely manner.

“I’ve never had to wait weeks for a fence permit before,” said Soriano, who lives in Dallas and has some clients downtown, adding that she does most of her work in Frisco, Fort Worth, Plano and Collin. does in other parts. County. “We’ve already got the materials, and we’re just waiting on the city for the time being.”

Dallas officials have cited an ongoing criminal investigation into the attack as the reason they are still not releasing specific details related to the cyber incident. Details of the scope of the attack, how it happened and how much recovery work the city has done have still not been released by city officials.

The city said that IT staff were alerted to the ransomware attack as early as the morning of May 3, that several servers had been compromised, and that other servers had to be intentionally taken offline to prevent the malicious software from spreading. This caused disruptions to many departments and made some city services unavailable, such as residents being unable to pay their water bills online or reporting non-emergency complaints through the city’s 311 app.

2023 The Dallas Morning News.

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