Feb 1, 2024 By Mike Jones 3 min read

Washington County officials are making progress in returning many government and courthouse services back to normal following the cyberattack that shuttered operations last week.

The immediate focus after officials shut down the county’s computer system on Jan. 24 was to restore operations in the offices of the controller and treasurer in order to be able to pay bills, send out paychecks on time and offer residents tax services.

“The County’s IT Department and leading cybersecurity and forensic teams continue working to test and securely recover impacted systems,” Washington County spokesman Patrick Geho said in a written statement Wednesday. “Thanks to their efforts, we are pleased to share that a lot of progress continues to be made to restore the network and critical systems. We continue working on a phased approach to bring systems like those used by our County Treasurer back online.”

Specifically, Geho said that residents can visit the treasurer’s office to pay their taxes as normal, while real estate tax payments are being processed and employees are “working overtime to expedite the process.” He added that other services handled by the treasurer’s office, such as dog licenses and games of chance, are being processed as normal.

In addition, the controller’s office that pays bills and issues paychecks to employees appears to be operating normally again. According to a message sent to county government employees Tuesday, paychecks will be deposited on time this week, although overtime and personal days won’t be included until the following pay period in mid-February.

“Ensuring our employees are paid on time has been a top priority during this incident,” the message reads. “We are pleased to have worked out issues to accomplish this goal and thank our employees who made this a reality.”

Another department that is back up and running normally is the elections office.

Elections Director Melanie Ostrander said their office’s server is not connected to the county’s system, so there was no opportunity for the cyberattack to spread to their department. However, out of an abundance of caution, the state Department of State severed its connection with the office while the scope of the breach could be investigated.

The server was reconnected to the state’s Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors, or SURE system, on Tuesday, allowing for voter services to continue ahead of the upcoming April 23 primary, Ostrander said. That is allowing the elections staff to process mail-in ballot applications, register voters and print out voter identification cards.

“As far as what voters (need), we’re fully operational,” Ostrander said.

The courthouse also appears to be conducting all or most judicial proceedings in a timely fashion, although the President Judge Gary Gilman requested and was partially granted a “judicial emergency” by the state to allow for some delays, if warranted.

It’s not known how many other departments are still impacted or what information was accessed through the cyberattack. After county officials shut down their computer server last week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and consultants with a third-party company worked to investigate and neutralize the threat. It has not been disclosed whether a ransom payment was requested following the cyberattack or if the county has taken any other measures to restore normal operations.

“We will keep the community informed as we have further updates and express our ongoing gratitude for your continued patience and support,” Geho said.