Tillamook County fell victim to a cyberattack early Wednesday, taking down its computers and phones. The attack also disabled the county government’s official website, at least through Thursday.
County officials determined malware had infected its computers, impacting all departments on its countywide server.
In a statement provided to The Associated Press, county officials said that no personal information of its employees or residents has been accessed or misused.
“The County will be operating ‘old school’ for a few days,” said Tillamook County Commissioner Mary Faith Bell in a statement. “We want to assure the public that no data has been compromised, not health or personal information.”
Gordon McCraw with the Tillamook County Sheriff’s Office said its encrypted data files can’t be accessed by anyone in the county.
“It’s important to understand that the data was not removed from the county systems,” McCraw said. “It does not appear that anything was lost.”
McCraw said while some of its phone systems are down, 911 and the number for the sheriff’s office are still operational.
The county’s information technology department detected the attack after experiencing computer difficulties early Wednesday morning. Computer systems and phones were immediately shut down to prevent other servers from being compromised.
The county plans to work with an independent computer forensics team Friday to determine the nature of the attack.
The FBI in Portland is aware of the situation but said it’s up to Tillamook County to release more information.