Metro county shuts down 9 servers after ransomware attack on water department

ROCKDALE COUNTY, Ga. — A local county hit by a ransomware attack says it's slowly getting back up to speed.

Rockdale County said is waiting on a ransom demand connected to this latest attack.

Channel 2’s Tom Jones learned the attack happened after an employee opened an email with an infected attachment and the ransomware has infected up to nine county servers.

Officials with Rockdale County have shut down those computer servers until they figure out how to decrypt them.

The county told Jones that the damage so far has been contained to the water department and water bills, but no customer information or financial information has been compromised.

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Rockdale County Commission Chair Oz Nesbit wouldn't say if the county would pay the ransom or when a ransom demand is made.

“I can assure you the necessary decisions will be made as it relates to what needs to happen to keep the lights on in Rockdale County," Nesbitt said

This isn’t the first time Rockdale County has been hit with a ransomware attack. In 2017, hackers hit the county’s servers and demanded a ransom to unlock them.

The county was able to decrypt their servers and did not pay the hackers.

Rockdale officials told Jones they have started training employees to educate them on how to avoid clicking attachments on suspicious emails.

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