St. George Fire Protection District Sues Cybersecurity Firm Over 2023 Breach The St. George Fire Protection District has filed a lawsuit against Baton Rouge-based cybersecurity firm General Informatics, alleging negligence in preventing a December 2023 breach that left its network compromised. Hackers infiltrated the district’s systems using a "living off the land" attack, exploiting legitimate network tools to evade detection, escalate privileges, and potentially deploy ransomware or gain access to other municipal networks. The attack, first reported by law enforcement on December 23, 2023, targeted the district’s domain controllers critical servers that manage authentication and security allowing attackers to impersonate authorized users and move freely within the network. Investigators later discovered the same hackers had breached another unnamed East Baton Rouge agency, also a General Informatics client, responsible for coordinating emergency services via computer-aided dispatch. The lawsuit claims General Informatics failed to secure its remote access tools, reusing compromised credentials across clients even after being notified of the breach in November 2023. A five-month review by Louisiana’s Emergency Support Function-17 uncovered additional vulnerabilities, including unsegmented networks, unlogged firewall activity, and administrative credentials stored in plain text. The firm also allegedly installed high-speed internet without compatible network switches and neglected to back up the district’s servers, despite contractual obligations. Following the breach, the fire district was forced to rebuild its entire network, incurring costs for new hardware and security measures. General Informatics later billed the district for remediation efforts and legal fees before filing a motion to compel arbitration. The case highlights systemic failures in cybersecurity practices and the risks of third-party vendor oversight in critical infrastructure.