With ransomware attacks increasing in number across the globe, Eastern Idaho seems to be the latest target of notorious attackers.
In reports coming in from the County, employees of the state’s government have not been able to send emails from Sunday onwards due to a ransomware virus that has infected their systems. The ransomware attack came as a surprise to employees of the County, who had no idea of how the virus made its way into the system.
According to a Madison County clerk, the malware had a severely debilitating effect on the county’s ability to conduct business and look over affairs within the region.
County Commissioner Brent Mendenhall talked to media soon after the attack and mentioned that he and the others have no idea of how the malware was introduced into the county’s system. He also mentioned that the Information Technology personnel within their premises will try to find the source of the attack after the systems have been restored.
In addition to the email settings, the attack is also believed to have targeted digital files. This has prevented authorities from crafting a paycheck for all employees. The county is currently believed to be using data backed up from last Saturday to issue paychecks due this Thursday.
The malware attack/virus was discovered on Monday when an employee was ensuring that the court’s new Odyssey system would work flawlessly on the first day. Mendenhall said that it was only because of this that the malware was noticed on Monday; otherwise, it wouldn’t have had been noticed till Tuesday because most employees were off on Monday for Columbus Day.
Mendenhall also made clear that they had no intentions of paying the ransom. The county has a good backup, and they are looking to restore data once the time has elapsed.
