OTTAWA - The LaSalle County information technology department learned on Feb. 23 that the county's network had been infected with a ransomware demand.
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OTTAWA - The LaSalle County information technology department learned on Feb. 23 that the network had been infected with a ransomware demand. There is no evidence that any county data has been compromised other than the ability to access it on local machines. However, county e-mail is still not functioning.
The LaSalle County IT department has been working with local law enforcement, the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and the State of Illinois’ Department of Innovation and Technology. Three days into the attack, the county has moved from the investigation mode to recovery. “The county regularly backs up all data to an off-site location,” said John Haag, director of the IT department. “Our vendor is on site and is in the process of restoring all of our data.”
LaSalle County has no plans to pay the ransom. A temporary e-mail account has been established to receive Freedom of Information Act requests at lasallecountyfoia@gmail.com.
The ransomware that hit the county network affected only the systems that were connected to the internet. Although early voting is under way, the tabulators used for that function are not connected to the internet and therefore have not been affected.
