HAMILTON - Marion County Probate Judge Paige Vick is asking residents who may have come to her office on Feb. 28, to file certain types of documents to call to confirm if the information is truly on file in the wake of a ransomware attack on a county server March 2.
According to The Journal Record, hackers compromised a server used by both the Marion County Revenue Commissioner’s Officer and the Marion County Probate Judge’s Office, suspending some services and access to electronic records. Ransomware is a type of malicious software designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid. Both Vick and Marion County Revenue Commissioner Barbara Cooper have been working diligently with state and federal agencies to resolve the problem, Vick stated in a social media post earlier this week.
"With that being said, we still have one day that is still encrypted— Friday, February 28, 2020. If you filed anything with the probate office that day, please bring it by to be rescanned into the system. We have worked diligently and, I believe, made contact with everyone who filed a deed that day. There are still a few documents for which we cannot account. We are looking for filed documents— deeds, mortgages, releases and judgements.
"To be clear, this attack did NOT affect drivers licenses, boat registrations, hunting/fishing licenses or business licenses. We have all of that information. None of that was ever stored on that server," Vick said.
Vick said the attack was discovered by one of the Marion County Revenue Commissioner’s office employees, whose computer was disabled after attempting to download delinquent property tax data stored on the server.
Vick said her office computers began “acting up” at that time and Cooper contacted the server software provider to figure out what was happening. That is when the ransomware was discovered.
According to Cooper, the software provider is S&W Minicomputers of Hueytown, which the revenue and probate offices have used since 1995.
Vick contacted an outside technician to scan and inspect her computers and assure that the office’s network itself wasn’t infected. None of them were affected.
A possible ransom message was left on the affected revenue commission computer. However, the computer was shut down and unplugged before they learned of any ransom details.
All computers were then unplugged and the internet was disconnected, Vick said.
Vick was in contact with the Department of Homeland Security in Washington, D.C., throughout the entire day March 2, getting instructions and providing details.
The following morning, Vick was on the phone with the FBI and provided reports throughout the entire day.
A meeting was called the morning of March 3, for Marion County Sheriff Kevin Williams, Marion County Commission Chairman Tim “Ears” Estes, commission attorney Scott Hunt and Cooper to discuss the situation.
“We did learn through all this that it was the software server that infiltrated our system,” Vick said. “It was nothing that the county employees did that got the ransomware on there. It came from the server.”
The affected server was disconnected from the network, shut off and unplugged.
Vick said the quick response among county officials is to be commended and that it helped keep ransomware from causing more damage.
“The fact that we only had one computer get infected is pretty awesome,” Vick said.
Vick said that both the revenue and probate offices have all their data stored on separate backup drives. Those backups can be uploaded to a new server and accessed just as before. Feb. 28, is the only date that might have some issues, which is why Vick is wanting to let all Marion County residents know where her and Cooper's offices stand in case residents need to make a return visit.
"With your help, I feel confident that we can get this data back into the system. If you have questions regarding whether your information is on file, please give us a call at 205-921-2471," Vick said.
See complete story in the Northwest Alabamian.
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