The city had trouble stopping the attack over the weekend, however, so on Monday, it "initiated a full shutdown of our information systems as a defensive measure to contain the threat." All Wi-Fi in city buildings is currently down, and numerous computerized city functions—including checking out library books—have been stopped. (According to a resident who spoke to local TV channel KSTP 5, books can still be checked out "the old school manual way, writing down the bar code number from your library card.") Online payments to the city have been disabled, though emergency services remain operational.

The FBI and two national cybersecurity firms have been brought on to mitigate the attack, but it hasn't been enough. Yesterday, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz activated state units of the National Guard to assist the city.

"Unfortunately, the scale and complexity of this incident exceeded both internal and commercial response capabilities," Walz said. "As a result, St. Paul has requested cyber protection support from the Minnesota National Guard to help address this incident and make sure that vital municipal services continue without interruption."