Jan 25, 2024 By Mike Jones 3 min read

All telephones and computers throughout Washington County’s government offices and courthouse were shut down by county officials Wednesday morning as a proactive measure after malware “phishing activity” was detected on the systemwide server.

The breach of the county’s main server meant government and courthouse workers were unable to use their office phones and computers, although the Department of Public Safety apparently was not affected by the situation.

It’s not immediately known how long the breach had occurred before being detected or whether any sensitive information was accessed by cyber hackers. However, it was serious enough to prompt agents with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to come to the county’s campus to investigate.

Washington County Commission Chairman Nick Sherman said they were notified of an issue at 3 a.m. Wednesday, which prompted officials to shut down the server while computer specialists from Homeland Security and an outside information technology firm worked alongside county employees to “survey the potential threat” to the system.

“At this time, this is just an overabundance of caution,” Sherman said of the reason for the shutdown. “It was detected and (the server was shut down) so we could be up and functioning as soon as possible.”

The situation brought county and courthouse business to a screeching halt as workers were told not to log on to their computers and were unable to make or receive calls from their office telephones. Sherman said the county’s 911 system was not impacted due to various safeguards in place.

“There are additional firewalls set up for public safety, so at no time were they vulnerable, and they are up and running,” he said.

Public Safety Director Gerry Coleman confirmed that the 911 center was operating normally, but referred further comment to county officials.

Court Administrator Pat Grimm said they had to cancel some court proceedings Wednesday that required video conferencing, but other in-person hearings were able to continue as scheduled. He was not told how long the outage may last, but it could impact scheduling for future proceedings if it’s lengthy. A message on the courthouse’s website said “online access to court services and court records may be affected during these outages” and asked for the public’s patience while the county worked through the issue.

“It’s definitely affected some of our operations,” Grimm said.

A similar cybersecurity breach was detected over the weekend in Bucks County, although that incident shut down that county’s computer-aided dispatch system within the 911 center, according to a CBS News story published online Tuesday. Its dispatch center was still able to receive calls and send emergency responders to incidents, but some features were not available, according to the report.

It’s not known if the cybersecurity hack in Bucks County is related to the incident in Washington County.

Sherman could not predict when the government offices and courthouse would be operating normally again.