(cover photo courtesy Henry Marte)

Lowell’s City Government ground to a halt Monday, as a citywide “crash” shut down all municipal computer and phone systems at City Hall, as well as all government offices throughout the city.

Operations were also disrupted on non-emergency police and fire lines, though the main police number and 9-1-1 system were, and still are, operational. Despite earlier information that the school department was also impacted, Community Outreach Specialist Jen Myers told us Tuesday morning that Lowell Public Schools have not been affected in any way.

Word of some type of problem began trickling out shortly after noon Monday, with the first verification of a more long-term issue arriving in the form of an email announcing tonight’s Zoning Board of Appeals meeting being cancelled due to “unforeseen technical difficulties.” A Twitter post from the city’s official account also announced the meeting cancellation, without making reference to the technical difficulties.

The wording of the email and official tweet aroused suspicion of a potential hacking incident in these quarters. Several city hall sources confirmed a system hack was among the causes being investigated, though when finally reached for comment shortly after 6pm Monday, City Manager Tom Golden would not speculate on a cause.

“We are still assessing the situation,” Golden tells InsideLowell.  “The M.I.S. Department is methodically going step-by-step through every system to determine what the problem is, but it’s too early to definitively say if we were or weren’t hacked.” 

The Manager, while not sounding overly concerned about a security breach, did leave open the possibility the systems would remain down tomorrow and potentially necessitate the cancellation of the Council meeting.