Washington County pays 350000 ransom after cyberattack CBS Pittsburgh
pWatch CBS Newspp
By Chris Hoffman
pp
February 15 2024 531 PM EST
CBS Pittsburgh
ppWASHINGTON Pa KDKA The Washington County Board of Commissioners formally voted on Thursday on handling the recent cyberattack ppSome have questioned the transparency of the process The questions about transparency have been because of secret and emergency meetings According to the solicitor some of that was because of the deadlines set up by the cybercriminalsppThursdays 21 vote by the board of commissioners to use up to 400000 to address the almost 350000 ransom payment and about 20000 cost to pay a company to handle the payment Januarys cyberattack against the county shut down several county servicesppBasically paralyzing all of the countys operations Washington County Solicitor Gary Sweat saidppThe vote to put this all into motion happened back on Feb 6 It was an emergency meeting because that was the deadline to pay the ransom to the alleged Russian criminals They had until 330 pm on Feb 6 to pay or not ppThe hackers had obtained large amounts of data from the county computer system Sweat saidppAccording to Sweat the meetings fell under the Sunshine Act for emergency meetings Ultimately the county did pay the ransomppCommissioner Larry Maggi was not happy because he felt this just invites more attacks from cyber criminalsppI find this repugnant that we are giving into cyber criminals Maggi saidppBoard Chairman Nick Sherman agreed it wasnt ideal to pay the Russian cybercriminals though he said the data they had could be very dangerous County records have data on children and Sherman didnt want that on the dark webppChildren of Washington County who are in severe need of services Children who have been abused Children who have been abducted Commissioner Sherman saidppExperts have told KDKATV that they advise groups to not pay the ransom when attacked At this point the county said 80 of its system has been restored since paying the ransomppThe money to pay for this came from the American Rescue Plan fundsppChris is an awardwinning reporter who started with KDKA in May 2019 He is thrilled to tell your stories in his hometownpp
First published on February 15 2024 531 PM EST
pp
2024 CBS Broadcasting Inc All Rights Reserved
pp2024 CBS Broadcasting Inc All Rights Reservedp
By Chris Hoffman
pp
February 15 2024 531 PM EST
CBS Pittsburgh
ppWASHINGTON Pa KDKA The Washington County Board of Commissioners formally voted on Thursday on handling the recent cyberattack ppSome have questioned the transparency of the process The questions about transparency have been because of secret and emergency meetings According to the solicitor some of that was because of the deadlines set up by the cybercriminalsppThursdays 21 vote by the board of commissioners to use up to 400000 to address the almost 350000 ransom payment and about 20000 cost to pay a company to handle the payment Januarys cyberattack against the county shut down several county servicesppBasically paralyzing all of the countys operations Washington County Solicitor Gary Sweat saidppThe vote to put this all into motion happened back on Feb 6 It was an emergency meeting because that was the deadline to pay the ransom to the alleged Russian criminals They had until 330 pm on Feb 6 to pay or not ppThe hackers had obtained large amounts of data from the county computer system Sweat saidppAccording to Sweat the meetings fell under the Sunshine Act for emergency meetings Ultimately the county did pay the ransomppCommissioner Larry Maggi was not happy because he felt this just invites more attacks from cyber criminalsppI find this repugnant that we are giving into cyber criminals Maggi saidppBoard Chairman Nick Sherman agreed it wasnt ideal to pay the Russian cybercriminals though he said the data they had could be very dangerous County records have data on children and Sherman didnt want that on the dark webppChildren of Washington County who are in severe need of services Children who have been abused Children who have been abducted Commissioner Sherman saidppExperts have told KDKATV that they advise groups to not pay the ransom when attacked At this point the county said 80 of its system has been restored since paying the ransomppThe money to pay for this came from the American Rescue Plan fundsppChris is an awardwinning reporter who started with KDKA in May 2019 He is thrilled to tell your stories in his hometownpp
First published on February 15 2024 531 PM EST
pp
2024 CBS Broadcasting Inc All Rights Reserved
pp2024 CBS Broadcasting Inc All Rights Reservedp
