Delaware County is investigating a hack of its network after “unauthorized activity” interfered with systems last Friday, disrupting county services.
The countygovernment is “in the process of restoring network access,” according to a statement, and internet and phone service has been restored.
“The County responded to these attempts by taking the proactive but necessary step of shutting down our network to continue to protect sensitive information and critical systems while following industry best practices in response to the intrusion attempts,” the county said.
The infringement comes almost six years after Delaware County was hit by a ransomware attack via a phishing email in November 2020. At that time, hackers stole sensitive data and the county eventually had to pay $25,000 to resolve the issue.
The scale of last Friday’s hack remains unclear, but the county said in its statement that since the 2020 incident, it has “established critical protections and followed industry recommendations about how to best secure its network assets, and those protections have proven valuable in recent days.”
The public first became aware of disruptions last Friday, when Delaware County Council posted on social media that there was a “network outage” at the Government Center Complex in Media.
Delco also said it plans to re-establish network access, services, and work withwith cybersecurity experts.
“All our offices remain open and ready to continue serving our residents, and we appreciate the efforts of our staff and departments to find alternate wats to perform their duties throughout this period of network interruption,” the county said.
The delays and detours in services have become frustrating for residents who may have to reschedule appointments with departments like the Register of Wills or at the courthouse.
6ABC reported last week that residents were not able to complete routine procedures at the courthouse, like filing a motion, and that cases were being taken out of order.
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