INDEPENDENCE, Mo. – Frustration continues to build for Jackson County taxpayers who can’t get inside the Truman Courthouse to do business. This after a ransomware attack shutdown multiple Jackson County services.
Jackson County Legislator Manny Abarca said this ransomware attack started with something that someone clicked one in an email.
“It’s a situation where all of our online and phone systems are completely down,” Abarca said.
Jackson County confirmed Tuesday a ransomware attack was to blame for the disruptions within its IT systems.
The systems impacted include tax payments and online property, marriage license and inmate searches.
Because of that, the county closed the assessment, collection and recorder of deeds offices at all county locations for the rest of the week.
The county said keeping systems offline will safeguard the integrity of the network to aid in recovery efforts.
Looking ahead, Abarca said there are concerns to address.
“What proactive efforts we’re going to put in place to make sure that these types of situations aren’t something that comes in the future. What type of emergency response are we going to have for ourselves as a legislature,” Abarca said. “I’m one of nine. So, the reality that I can’t call a special meeting without four others, I have asked for that to happen, and our chair has relied on our county executive.”
“There is an urgent need to reinstate the county’s core functions to minimize inconvenience for residents,” said Jackson County Executive Frank White, Jr. “We are actively exploring every avenue to ensure our residents are not negatively impacted by the closures.”
“Every time you come up here, it’s frustrating,” taxpayer Matthew Ballentine said.
Dozens of people read a sign on the door that said closed and walked away feeling frustrated.
Wednesday was Tiffany Danner’s second day trying to get inside Truman Courthouse, looking to get her vehicle registered, only to find out about the ransomware attack.
“Very concerned,” Danner said. “If they can do that with our main courthouse, it makes you wonder what else they can do it with.”
Jackson County said “the impact on the county does not include taxpayers’ personal and sensitive financial information. Such data is hosted completely outside of the county’s network and is securely managed and stored by our trusted partner, PayIt.”
The county said measures are in place to prevent further compromise to the county’s network as they work to restore the systems.
The county said impacted offices will be closed the remainder of the week.
