Montgomery Co. Commision Green Lights Use Of Emergency Funds To Combat Ransomware Attack
Montgomery county government computer systems are still in trouble tonight following a ransomware attack earlier this week.
The County Commission held an emergency meeting this morning to green light the next steps in the recovery process.
Members of the commission voted to authorize the county administrator to “take all necessary steps, including the expenditure of funds, to recover all county data and files and operating systems and to prevent future attacks on its systems”.
Some Montgomery county offices are back up and running after Monday’s security breach, others are still trying to recover.
“I was hoping we would be up and available, today but that does not look that way after what transpired last night. said Lou Ialacci, Chief Information Technology Officer of Montgomery County. He and other Information Technology officials are now having trouble accessing back-up data… Which raises a few eyebrows over at the District Attorney’s office.
“What really doesn’t make me feel good is that we have been told all along that there were backups to our information and now we’re being told that those back-ups might not be there….I know that the county has been paying a company for the backups and if they don’t have them they may have the Montgomery County district attorney looking at everything they’re doing” said District Attorney Darryl Bailey.
Officials said Tuesday, that they had no intentions of giving in to the attackers demands but now with a few days until that offer expires, they could be reconsidering. “It is one of the options” said Ialacci.
Officials would not say just how much money is being put towards recovery of the lost data but they have said that they will continue to seek outside help. The FBI is investigating the attack. It is still not clear  how the breach happened or if there are any leads on who’s responsible.
