Washington County reported that its local government was the victim of a cyberattack.
See also: Rock County investigates ransomware attack
The authorities were given early warning to shut down servers on Wednesday morning. A federal investigation is now underway.
Homeland Security officials contacted county officials at 3 a.m. to report a breach . Leaders in Bucks County received the same phone call, but their 911 system was also targeted. Washington's 911 system is fully operational.
“We received confirmation at approximately 3 a.m. that a phishing on our servers in Washington County. Typically reports like this come from the IT department, but the IT department contacted me to say it came from the Department of Homeland Security. We then shut down our servers,” said County Commissioner Nick Sherman.
See also: A Wisconsin county is facing a serious ransomware attack
The Washington County Courthouse remained open today, with hearings being held and documents being filed by hand.
“We emphasize that many services are still done on paper,” Sherman said. “Protection from violence requests are submitted to the courts with printed documents and sent to the police so that people can be served. However, they cannot be officially recorded on our server and cloud yet.”
County leaders are waiting for an official update from the Department of Homeland Security to see if it was a cyberattack, a ransomware , or if they were able to discover the leak in time to prevent it.
See also: Cyberattack in Dallas County investigated by the investigative agency
A cyberattack in a province has had significant consequences. First, it causes a widespread disruption of digital services, affecting the provision of essential public services. In addition, this attack causes significant economic damage, as recovering data and repairing digital infrastructure requires the expenditure of large sums of money.
Additionally, public trust in the province’s ability to protect its sensitive data and digital services is seriously damaged. Finally, the cyberattack jeopardizes the safety of citizens, as the disruption of services could have affected the province’s ability to respond to emergencies.
Source: wpxi
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