State investigation determines cause of ongoing Fremont County cybersecurity attack
CAŃON CITY, Colo. (KRDO) -- The state has determined the cause of the recent cybersecurity attack in Fremont County, which forced all government administration buildings to shut down.
On August 17, Fremont County officials discovered the county's systems had been hacked. The cyber security threat shut down the Department of Human Services, the Department of Public Health, and the Fremont County Administration Building. The administration building houses many services including the county assessor, treasurer, coroner, veterans services, and planning and zoning.
Thursday, the Governor's Office of Information Technology determined through an investigation that the cybersecurity attack resulted from BlackCat ransomware, also known as ALPHV.
"The BlackCat ransomware variant has recently impacted multiple jurisdictions in Colorado, so it's imperative that every business and government agency be on high alert and take the necessary steps to protect their systems from being compromised," stated OIT Chief Information Security Officer Ray Yepes in a press release.
According to the state, Fremont County officials also notified employees and a "small number of individuals in the community" Wednesday that their personal information may have been compromised due to the ransomware attack.
The state says the county will mail notifications to those who may have been affected. The county is also working with Experian to offer credit monitoring services.
In a press release, Fremont County Commissioner and Chairman of the Board Debbie Bell said the county, "will proceed with incident response efforts to assess the overall impact and get services back online as quickly as possible."
Fremont County is working with OIT, the Colorado Department of Public Safety, and the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management to make other counties and municipalities across the state aware of the ransomware variant.
