An email led to a "compromise" of the computer network at about 4:30 a.m. The incident also coincides with the first day of the Consumer Electronics Show, which is being held at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
City communications director David Riggleman said details surrounding the incident are under investigation and there should be a clearer picture in the coming days.
"We were obviously anticipating that a day like this would eventually come," Riggleman said.
Like other governments and large corporations, the city faces numerous attacks on its system. Riggleman pointed out that about 2 million emails come through the city network each month, saying that the city was immediately notified of the "unusual activity."
"We’ve never had a compromise of this nature before, no, but we’ve had attempts in the neighborhood of 279,000 a month," Riggleman said.
All the city officials could reveal in the early stages of the investigations is that the incident was tied to an email.
Riggleman said residents may experience brief service interruptions, adding that any interruptions are tied to city staff working on the network.
"It's important to note that those interruptions are not caused by the compromise directly," Riggleman said. "They’re caused by our systems analysts protecting our systems."
Michael Sherwood, information technologies director for the city, declined to comment this afternoon.
