Merrimack County: Systems contained after cybersecurity incident, investigation continues
Merrimack County experienced a network security issue two weeks ago that caused disruptions to its systems, but the county said in a statement Tuesday that “the systems are contained and there is no active threat.”
An initial press release was sent on Sept. 14 regarding the response to the network security incident. On Tuesday, the county said the investigation is still ongoing to determine whether any personal information was involved.
Gary Miliefsky, CEO of Cyber Defense Media Group, said it’s common for local governments to be targeted.
“The pattern is don’t go after banks because banks spend billions and billions on cybersecurity, and they’re very hard to break into. Go after the soft underbelly, which is smaller businesses and smaller government organizations,” Miliefsky said.
The Bow police chief said the department experienced delays in processing copies of police reports and right-to-know requests because of the incident, but dispatch, emergency services and policing are unaffected and fully operational.
“I recommend anybody err on the side of sharing data and being transparent, being open, because citizens worry and wonder, and you can quell the fears if they know exactly what happened and what you’re doing to recover from the incident,” Miliefsky said.
News 9 is still working to identify where the security incident originated and whether it was carried out by an individual or a group.
“A normal cyberattack, they might get in, steal some data, implant a backdoor, take a service offline, or deface a website,” Miliefsky said. “If it’s ransomware, then they took the county records, encrypted them all, and gave them a deadline and said, ‘Give us some money or you’ll never get these records back.'”
Miliefsky said it’s critical for individuals, companies and governments to be vigilant about potential threats.
