The New York Times reported that Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (which includes the city of Charlotte) refused to “pay a $23,000 ransom to a group of hackers who seized control of several government computer systems” and the County was operating without “the internet, civil servants were doing their jobs using “paper processes.””  The December 6, 2017 report entitled “North Carolina County Refuses to Pay $23,000 Ransom to Hackers” included these comments:

Officials said they believed the hackers had not obtained the personal information of any employees or private citizens.

The targeted systems included those of the tax assessor’s office and the Parks and Recreation and Social Services Departments, the county said in a statement.

Dena R. Diorio (the Mecklenburg County manager) issued this statement:

I am confident that our backup data is secure and we have the resources to fix this situation ourselves,…

It will take time, but with patience and hard work, all of our systems will be back up and running as soon as possible.

Let’s seek if the backup contained malware before Mecklenburg County is out of the woods!

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