Hackers Hold Mecklenburg County Computer System For Ransom

CHARLOTTE, NC -- A county employee opening a malicious email attachment Monday led to hackers taking over Mecklenburg County’s entire computer system, freezing all the files. Hackers now say the county has until 1 p.m. Wednesday to pay a ransom of $23,000 if they want the files back, according to a report.

The countywide computer system outage throughout Mecklenburg County offices led to a complete information technology shut down until further notice, county officials said around 1 p.m. Tuesday. "This will affect email, printing and other County applications, including the ability to conduct business at most County offices," the Dec. 5 notice said.

By Tuesday night, however, officials had more information about what was going on with the system.

“The files on the servers are being held for ransom,” Mecklenburg County manager Dena Diorio told county commissioners, according to the Charlotte Observer.

Diorio told commissioners that while she was open to paying the ransom, it would have to be paid in bitcoin, and that there was risk that even after paying they would not provide the encryption key to release the files. She said the hacked information did not include sensitive personal information, such as health records or social security numbers, the newspaper reported. The county’s efforts to retrieve the information also includes working with a third-party company.

There is no time estimate for how long the outage is expected to last and county officials recommend anyone in need of conducting business at a county department call beforehand.

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