Tillamook County

Tillamook County is a local government entity situated in the United States, with its headquarters located in the state of Oregon. It provides a range of municipal services to the residents and businesses within its jurisdiction, including administrative functions, public safety operations, and community programs. The county’s day‑to‑day activities are supported by an internal network of computer systems that are used by approximately 250 employees across various departments. These systems enable the operation of departmental websites, internal communications, and non‑emergency network services that facilitate routine governmental work. In addition to administrative tasks, the county oversees essential public safety functions such as emergency dispatch and the 911 call center. The Sheriff’s Office, which is part of the county’s law‑enforcement apparatus, also relies on the same IT infrastructure for phone and email communications. The county’s governing body, the board of commissioners, authorized discussions aimed at obtaining an encryption key during the 2020 ransomware incident, reflecting its role in decision‑making and risk assessment for critical infrastructure.

The ransomware incident that occurred on January 22, 2020, highlighted the county’s dependence on its digital infrastructure, as the attack disrupted all internal government computer systems and forced many operations offline. While emergency dispatch and 911 services remained functional, the Sheriff’s Office experienced phone and email disruptions, and departmental websites and non‑emergency network services were taken offline. Initially mistaken for a storage system failure, the event was later confirmed as ransomware, prompting the county to engage a forensic firm to investigate the breach. Recovery efforts required a temporary shift to paper‑based workflows, such as manual library book checkouts, while phone services were gradually restored. No definitive timeline for full system restoration was provided at the time, underscoring the challenges of rebuilding compromised IT environments. As a county government, Tillamook County operates under the authority of the state of Oregon and does not have a parent or subsidiary organization; its structural status is that of a municipal corporation responsible for local governance.