The Baxter County Sheriff’s Office reported Thursday they were notified of an overseas hackers’ group accessing one of the office’s computer servers containing official public records and working documents on Friday. According to Sheriff John Montgomery, a federal government agency detected transfers of data occurring between the sheriff’s office server and an overseas location.
Sheriff Montgomery says following the discovery, information technology specialists from three firms were contacted to begin the process of isolating the server and eliminating malicious viruses or malware deposited on the server by the hackers. The process is ongoing. Montgomery adds some databases and programs have been offline since Friday due to efforts to remedy the situation. New equipment has been installed, and it’s believed the databases, programs and files will again be accessible for sheriff’s office use within the next few days.
Sheriff’s officials and IT specialists do not believe data or records have been altered, modified or deleted by the hackers, but the possibility of personal information of employees and other individuals being obtained exists. Sheriff Montgomery says his office will provide identity theft and credit monitoring services for its employees, and notification letters will be sent out in the next few days to those possibly affected.
In addition to new hardware, other safety and security software and procedures are being installed and implemented. The sheriff says his office is using this incident as an opportunity to improve existing processes and strengthen cybersecurity measures. He adds the incident is not related to the recent upgrade to the records management software and inmate roster feed.
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