Town of Cornelius had ransomware attack, shut down digital network
The shutdown causes employees to lack access to data and documents, and police and fire departments have to operate differently.
CORNELIUS, N.C. (WBTV) - The Town of Cornelius said they encountered a potential cyber threat Tuesday night.
The stabilized threat was caused by ransomware on a computer inside the police department. Staff says the threat was found early on.
The halt means town employees can’t access what’s essentially a “storage database”, including critical data and documents to do their jobs. They also cannot access computers or landlines on site.
However, the town did say they have backups and are able to work in different ways. The town’s website and emails are also still up and running.
In terms of emergency response, you can still call 911 normally.
While the police department doesn’t have access to a database that makes it easy to access call history or write up reports, it doesn’t mean they can’t do what they always do.
The town’s communications manager added while the town’s technology team is working hard to get the system back up and running, it may take days before that happens.
“We’re going to take our time and we’re going to do the job to the best that we can before we go back online,” explained MaeLynn Joyner, the town’s communications manager.
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The Cornelius Technology Operations Department is working with the North Carolina Local Government Information Systems Association and Mecklenburg County Emergency Management to scan and clean all affected devices before the town returns to normal operations.
Officials add some town services may be temporarily unavailable or delayed.
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