A South Carolina county continues to rebuild its computer network after what it called a sophisticated hacking attempt.
The hackers sent an email on January 22 that allowed them to take over Georgetown County’s computers. They demanded a ransom to return the system to county control, said spokeswoman Jackie Broach.
The county has not paid the ransom and has been working last month to restore email and the network and clean infected computers, Broach said in a statement.
The cybersecurity experts hired by the county said there was no indication that tax, labor or other private information was obtained by the hackers, Broach said.
E-mails at county addresses are being retrieved for about half of Georgetown County employees, with technology workers giving priority to addresses used by the public, Broach said.
Authorities are investigating the breach and are not divulging information about the hackers.
Cybersecurity experts told the county that the attack was sophisticated, entering the system through “something that most people would have mistaken for a legitimate email,” said Broach.
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