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LASALLE COUNTY

Computer system is on the mend after attack

Officials believe no data has been stolen

BY DEREK BARICHELLO Shaw Media

After hundreds of hours of work by IT staff, LaSalle County officials are hopeful they are closer to returning their computer system to normal.

The county’s governmental offices were infected with a ransomware attack Feb. 23 that took down email accounts, limited access to documents and caused many county services to be provided “the old-fashioned way” with paper.

Ransomware is a malicious software attack designed to block access to a computer system until a ransom is paid. John Haag, LaSalle County IT director, said officials still aren’t sure how the county was infected. There is no evidence any county data has been compromised other than the ability to access it on local machines, Haag said last week.

The county has no intentions of paying the ransom, noting there is no guarantee the operators would fully cooperate, Haag said. County officials have not been in contact with the hackers, and can’t confirm the ransom amount.

While officials are hopeful the county can return to normal soon, Haag still is preaching patience. He said IT staff, with assistance from vendors, has to restore systems on a server by server basis. He said he and his staff of three others put in roughly 100 hours of work apiece over the past week.

The FBI and state agencies have assisted LaSalle County, and the matter still is under investigation.

LaSalle County Chairman Jim Olson, D-Seneca, said he believes the correct technology protections were in place, but the County Board still intends to review what happened.

“Obviously we didn’t stop it,” Olson said. “There may be some things that you can never stop, but we wouldn’t be doing our jobs if we didn’t re-evaluate emails and Internet access. We want to learn from it to make it safer.”

Public safety departments, such as the sheriff ’s office and state’s attorney’s office, have received preference in restoration.

The Circuit Clerk Department’s computers were not affected, said Circuit Clerk Greg Vaccaro. That department records all traffic, criminal, civil and juvenile cases filed and heard in LaSalle County. The office deals in the collection and disbursement of fines, fees and child support. None of these services were affected. The LaSalle County State’s Attorney’s Office has depended on the circuit clerk’s office to obtain most of its essential documents, such as subpoenas and charging documents, or the sheriff ’s office for background checks. The office is used to having these items at its fingertips, but with the network down, staff has had to lean on other departments.

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