Aerial of Foster City, Calif., with neighborhoods, a lake, San Francisco Bay and the Diablo Range in the background. Foster City is part of the San Francisco Bay Area along the San Francisco Peninsula.

A Bay Area city remains largely shut down more than a week after a cyberattack. Foster City, with a population of 33,000, has been without working phones or emails for over a week.

“On March 19, 2026, the City’s network was attacked by an external actor in the form of a ransomware attack, and this attack caused network access to become unavailable, which significantly interferes with City staff’s ability to conduct business and provide services,” a memo released by city manager Stefan Chatwin said.

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The attack led officials to shut down the network as a precaution. While 911 and police services were restored within hours, other key modes of communication, including email and phone lines, are currently unavailable. 

On Monday, City Council members voted 4-0 in favor of declaring a “local emergency.” While phones and emails are not functioning, City Hall is still open with “limited services,” according to a city news release. There is no timeline for when full services will resume.

Foster City spokesperson Austin Walsh said no new update is available at this time and any new information will be posted on the city’s social media pages.

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Foster City isn’t the first Bay Area municipality to be targeted in a cyberattack. In 2023, the Oakland city government was hit by an attack from the PLAY hacker group. The attack paused city services and allowed hackers to gain access to city employees’ personal information. Ultimately, the city was sued by employees whose information was released.

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