Officials said the restoration work allowed critical services to continue operating while teams continued to restore the network.
Ottawa County, Ohio — Ottawa County Officials said they are making progress toward recovery after detecting a ransomware attack on a computer network.
In a statement issued Thursday morning, officials at the Ottawa County Commissioner’s office said the county’s IT department and “nationally recognized” third-party cybersecurity consultants are working to restore operations, impacted It said it was working to restore systems and determine the impact of the incident. They also said they have notified law enforcement.
Officials said the restoration work allowed critical services to continue operating while teams continued to restore the network.
Authorities say the unauthorized party has also released county-related information that they believe was obtained from the compromised network. With the help of law enforcement, they said they plan to complete a thorough analysis of the data to determine what and whose information is potentially involved.
The county commissioner emphasized his dedication to network restoration and the safety of residents and employees. They also thanked the community for their patience and support, and promised to provide updates as they become available.
Cyberattacks are becoming more common, said Jong Kwan Lee, assistant professor and chief of computer science at Bowling Green State University.
“Industry, government departments, even education sectors such as universities have been hacked,” Lee said.
He said the severity of a ransomware attack depends on the information Ottawa County stores in its systems.
“It could be as bad as basically anything in the database, like social security numbers or phone numbers, or it could just be names and addresses,” Lee said.
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https://www.wtol.com/article/news/crime/ottawa-county-ransomware-cyber-security-attack/512-6191f99b-2ea8-40f9-80f2-e9fbba54c9ba Ottawa County, Ohio Ransomware Attack