52 FALL 2021
How Counties Can Protect
Themselves Against
Cyber Attacks
By W. Stuart Morgan III
Counties are attractive targets for hackers,
and they are under attack!
After Georgetown County sustained a ran-
somware attack on January 20, the county worked
hard to recover until receiving a clean bill of health
52 days later. Threatened by a growing number of
cyber attacks in recent years, Lexington County
continues to work hard to avoid one.
Both counties have learned lessons worth
sharing.
Lessons Georgetown County
Has Learned
“Our county’s cyber intrusion event occurred
over the weekend when someone opened an email
attachment,” recalled Seth Housand, IT Director,
Georgetown County. “The email itself did not set
off any red flags within the email se-
curity filter at the time nor did it have
any key idicators such as mispelled
words, a strange email address or
sense of urgency that you often look
for in phishing emails.
“The only exception to that
email was its attachment,” Housand
added. “Once that attachment was
opened, its malicious payload was
delivered. We became aware of the intrusion three days after the attack
when alerts began and red flags went up because a server was rebooted
off schedule and its services stopped. Upon investigation, we found a
ransom note and all data had been
encrypted.”
That cyber attack destroyed all
of Georgetown County’s computer
systems, and halted all of the county’s
virtual operations requiring Wi-Fi.
The county paid a $10,000 deductible
on its cyber attack insurance policy,
which helped replace computer
equipment. County Council also
voted to approve a general fund increase of $140,000 to help pay for
necessary network upgrades.
“Our county’s cyber intrusion occurred over
the weekend when someone opened an email
attachment. The email itself did not set off
any red flegs ... . The only exception to that
email was its attachment. Once that attach-
ment was opened, its malicious payload was
delivered.”
Seth Housand, IT Director, Georgetown County
“The wide-ranging media interest in the days,
weeks and months following the attack was
more than a little surprising. Media interest
was immediate, and the public had ques-
tions about how this could impact them and
whether any of their private information was
compromised.”
Jackie Broach, Georgetown County PIO
Jackie Broach, Georgetown
County Public Information Officer
(PIO), said hackers tried to gain
access to county records, most of
which were already public record.
But they did access the social se-
curity numbers of about 50 county
employees in one department that
were stored on a computer, and
some of the county’s bank account
information that was outdated and no longer used.
Georgetown County’s leaders recognized that the attack would
affect the public and county employees, and the importance of mes-
saging immediately after the attack.
“Our initial media statement
went out early Monday morning,
January 25, once initial stages of the
investigation were conducted over
the weekend,” Broach said. “The
wide-ranging media interest in the
days, weeks and months following
the attack was more than a little
surprising. Media interest was im-
mediate, and the public had questions about how this could impact
them and whether any of their private information was compromised.
