Chelan County

Summary

Chelan County experienced a malware attack that triggered a network shutdown, after which officials regained access to the financial server and resumed payroll processing. The county commissioners issued an emergency declaration that permits them to approve contracts without the usual bidding process due to the ongoing disruption. Updates have been posted on the county’s Facebook page, while the economic services and public works departments have postponed requests for qualifications and placed project bids on hold until phone and email services are restored. The building department directs the public to submit inspection requests in person or by calling a temporary phone line, and urgent inquiries can be sent to a temporary email address.

Motives

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TTPs

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Description

On May 24, Chelan County experienced a malware attack that forced a shutdown of its computer network. The disruption affected multiple county systems and halted normal operations. Officials later reported that they had regained access to the financial server, which restored the ability to process payrolls. Jill FitzSimmons, the county spokesperson, confirmed the recovery of the financial server and its role in enabling payroll processing. The restoration of the financial server marked a notable step in the county’s recovery effort.

In response to the ongoing system shutdown, the Chelan County Commissioners signed an emergency declaration that permits them to approve contracts without the usual formal bidding process due to the extreme circumstances. The county has been posting regular updates on its Facebook page to inform residents about how to interact with various departments during the outage. The economic services and public works departments canceled requests for qualifications for several project assessments and placed project bids on hold until phone and email services are restored. The building department directed the public to submit inspection requests either in person or by calling the temporary phone number (509) 679-7402 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, while the system outage continues. For other urgent inquiries, the building department provided a temporary email address, [email protected].

The county continues to communicate progress through its social media channels as it works to bring all systems back online. Residents are advised to use the temporary contact methods for any immediate needs related to county services. These measures aim to maintain essential services while the network recovery proceeds.

Sources

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