Mower County systems down after ransomware attack
Published 3:05 pm Wednesday, June 18, 2025
Hope to have services back by Friday
Mower County has shut down most of its systems Wednesday as it deals with the fallout from a ransomware attack.
According to Mower County Administrator Matthew Verdick, county IT specialists became aware of the attack in the early morning hours and out of an abundance of caution have taken county systems offline as work continues to resolve the issue.
“We hope to have most functions up and running by Friday,” Verdick said Wednesday afternoon. “They’re still going through and doing the forensic imaging of everything.”
According to an accompanying statement sent by Verdick, the attack hit the county’s network and work now centers on safely restoring services. 911 fire and emergency resources continue to operate.
“We have implemented a new non-emergency law enforcement number, which is 1-507-279-0203 until systems are back online,” The statement read. “We are working with nationally recognized third-party cyber security and data forensics consultants to assist us and have notified state and federal law enforcement.”
The statement goes on to read that the county was committed to minimizing the impact on residents doing business with the county.
“While we continue to make progress, there is more work to be done,” the statement read. “We are incredibly grateful for your patience with this situation.”
