Rockland County Clerk's Databases Restored After Cyberattack

NEW CITY, NY — The Rockland County Clerk's Office had access restored to its online databases on Tuesday, a month after a cyberattack on one of the county's computing vendors forced county officials to disconnect the servers handling record management for the County Clerk's Office while the FBI and Homeland Security investigated.

It was Dec. 26 when the County Clerk’s Office was informed by database software administrator Cott Systems, Inc., that they had detected malware within their infrastructure around Christmas Day. The FBI and the United States Department of Homeland Security confirmed the attack and told county officials that it was the work of a group of criminals who operate worldwide.

County Clerk Donna Silberman told Patch. it was not only tough for her office but also for the public, specially the many people who use the county's databases to do record searches and recordings.

"It was very frustrating while it was down, and not knowing how long it was going to take was also frustrating," she said.

In fact, this week her office set up temporary computers in the office for title searches — then the news came through that Cott Systems had been able to fully restore public access to the online databases.

"My next step is seeing what I can do to prevent this in the future," Silberman said.

If anyone continues to have issues utilizing the online system, you can contact the County Clerk's office at 845-638-5221.

SEE ALSO: Homeland Security Probes Cyberattack On Rockland County