Another government office in Florida crippled by ransomware cyber attack
St. Lucie County in South Florida can now include itself in the very unenviable club that includes those organizations disabled by 21st century ransomware cyber-attacks. To date, at least seven Florida municipalities and government offices have been hit with phishing and ransomware attacks.
Yesterday, the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office in Fort Pierce, Florida, reported being hit with a cyber attack which forced the office to go off-line for much of their operations. The sheriff’s IT Department confirmed the attack to be a ransomware incident. The office is now working with the FBI to resolve their operations as quickly as possible.
In the meantime, some agency services have been impacted including:
- All Sheriff’s Office emails
- Posting of daily arrest affidavits
- Updating of jail booking photos
- Fingerprinting
- Background checks / criminal histories, and
- Distribution of case reports, traffic crash reports, etc.
Fortunately, 9-1-1 and emergency services were not impacted and continue to operate normally. Deputies will continue to respond to calls for service. The office does not have an estimated completion time for when all services will be restored.
Just minutes ago, the Sheriff’s Office reported still being crippled by the cyber-attack that hit yesterday. They also said that all previously stated systems and services are still unavailable “with the exception of inmate phone calls and jail visitation.”
Jail visitation and inmate phone calls have been restored to normal operation.
Last night, Sheriff Ken Mascara was on TV saying that although things are looking bleak currently, the attack could have been much worse. Mascara went on to say that his office would not be paying any ransom to the cyber bandits and that his department only lost about 24-hours’ worth of data – all of which could be restored from backups.
Also see:
- Riviera Beach: Florida town paying $600K ransom to get hacked city computer systems back up and running
- Lake City: 2nd Florida city pays huge ransom to get their hacked computer systems back up and running
- Telephone scams now targeting the elderly and how to avoid fraudsters
For more on the cyber-attack on the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, see the video accompanying this article.
~ Posted by: Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Follow Richard on Facebook and Twitter
