Wayne County, Michigan’s largest county with over 1.75 million residents, is dealing with a cyberattack that has shut down its websites and limited several key functions. The affected services include financial transactions, case management, and estate sales. Doug Lulgjuraj, a spokesperson for the county, said he expects the county’s websites, which were still inaccessible on Thursday afternoon, to be “fully operational” by Friday.
This restoration will bring back online services such as property tax payments and records. “Impacted services have been transitioned to backup processes to maintain operations. Barring any unforeseen issues, we expect the county website to be fully operational by the start of business on Friday,” Lulgjuraj stated on Wednesday.
The hack also disrupts the county’s judicial system, preventing jail inmates from being bonded. Defense attorneys have reported being unable to schedule client visits, and websites for the Wayne County prosecutor’s and clerk’s offices are currently not working.
Wayne County’s cyberattack impact escalates
Lulgjuraj did not say whether this was a ransomware attack but noted that the county’s information technology team is investigating the scope of the incident with the FBI and Michigan State Police. In August, a ransomware attack disrupted the network and telecommunications of another major city, including its payment system. The Wayne County Commission met at the Guardian Building in Detroit on Thursday.
Usually, the meeting would have been held on Zoom, but the attack made that impossible. County Commission Chair Alisha Bell said, “Right now, we are working with the state police and the FBI, and they’re working with our IT professionals.”
Bell explained that some internal files were encrypted during the attack but said the situation could have been worse if their firewalls were not working. “We’ve seen a lot of government agencies getting targeted, especially since the start of this year,” said Kaustubh Medhe, vice president of Research & Threat Intelligence at a cyber threat intelligence firm.
Medhe added that nearly 20 different counties and government departments across the U.S. have been targeted in ransomware attacks over the past six months. These attacks usually involve demands for money in exchange for restoring access to encrypted files. At this time, there is no information on the attacker’s identity, the ransom amount, or how long it will take for Wayne County to fully recover.
April Isaacs is a news contributor for DevX.com She is long-term, self-proclaimed nerd. She loves all things tech and computers and still has her first Dreamcast system. It is lovingly named Joni, after Joni Mitchell.
