Jackson County, Missouri, USA, reported significant disruptions to its IT systems on Tuesday caused by a ransomware attack.
The disruptions led to the declaration of a state of emergency due to operational inconsistencies within the digital infrastructure, with some systems rendered inoperable while others remained functional.
Affected services include online tax payment and property, marriage licenses and inmate searches. As a result, assessment, collections and deed registration offices in all counties will be closed until April 5.
“There is an urgent need to restore essential county functions to minimize inconvenience to residents,” Jackson County Executive Frank White, Jr. wrote in an updated press release Wednesday. “We are actively exploring all possibilities to ensure our residents are not negatively affected by the closures. »
The Kansas City Board of Elections and the Jackson County Board of Elections are reportedly unaffected by the system outage, maintaining the continuity of crucial election processes.
Swift action was taken, with law enforcement notified and IT security contractors hired to investigate and remedy the situation. Stressing the importance of network integrity and resident data privacy, the county said there is currently no evidence of data compromise.
“The impact on the county does not include taxpayers’ personal and sensitive financial information,” the statement read. updated review. “This data is hosted entirely outside of the county network and is managed and securely stored by our trusted partner, PayIt.”
Efforts to strengthen system security against further compromises are underway, alongside efforts to restore full operational capacity to affected services.
“It is no longer enough to rely solely on reactive measures after an attack has occurred,” explains Jess Parnell, CISO at Centripetal. “Businesses and organizations must move from an internal security approach, which focuses primarily on vulnerabilities and patches, to an external approach that anticipates and defends against potential exploits. »