County Board Chair responds to questions about software ‘intrusion’ and IT system shutdown

As part of her Board Chairman’s report Tuesday morning, April 6, Cheryl Cullers read a prepared statement into the meeting record addressing the County software situation in the wake of the early March discovery of what has been termed an “intrusion” as opposed to a hack due to a lack of thus-far-discovered use, theft or manipulation of data. As previously reported by Royal Examiner, County staff emails have been shut down for about three weeks now as a consequence of the County Server being taken offline as a security measure as system upgrades and alterations have been undertaken.

The “intrusion” of the Warren County software is believed to be part of a larger hack of sites around the nation, thus involving federal and state law enforcement agencies, which Cullers referenced in her statement as an explanation for the pace and lack of release of details of the County response.

Following is Warren County Board of Supervisors Chairman Cullers’ software-IT report in its entirety:

County Board Chair Cheryl Cullers revealed breadth of agency involvements, responses to County software intrusion. Royal Examiner Photos by Roger Bianchini

“I would like to take a few minutes to make a statement about the recent incident with our system. As you know, Warren County, like many other localities around the country, was the victim of a cybersecurity incident in March.

“After learning of the incident, Warren County staff quickly took action to contain the threat, secure systems and to notify the Board of Supervisors. In addition, the County staff notified and began working with law enforcement – both the FBI Cyber Crimes Division and the Virginia State Police High Tech Crimes Division. Warren County staff also gave notice to its cyber insurance provider, who in turn engaged cybersecurity lawyers and cybersecurity forensic teams, on behalf of Warren County to investigate this incident.

“Warren County staff have been hard at work restoring services to a secure and safe environment, including moving a number of services into the cloud. While we are eager to resume operations, we need to do so in the most prudent way possible. Therefore, we have taken the time to build out our IT infrastructure and improve our security posture.

Work by Shentel personnel on upgrading the County’s IT system and online communications network was progressing Tuesday morning at the WCGC as the supervisors were meeting nearby. County/WCPS tech people noted the April 6 meeting would not be live streamed, but would be posted online, likely within a day as other meetings will begin to be taped and posted pending restoration of the full IT system facilitating live broadcast to immediate archiving.

“Investigation into this incident is ongoing, we are continuing to work with law enforcement and legal team on this matter.

“I have read and heard many comments, concerns and accusations on social media and in the public, questioning our handling and transparency regarding this incident. I can assure you we are and will continue to address this incident in cooperation with and according to guidelines and instructions of the cybersecurity law enforcement and legal experts that have spent many long hours working with us on this incident. We will not jeopardize the investigation into this incident to appease those that feel they are entitled to information on demand.

“I can assure you I stand by my pledge to my community to be honest, transparent and accountable as a County supervisor. When we have complete and accurate information, and have been assured by the investigation and legal teams we can share this information with the citizens of Warren County, we will gladly do so.”

Above, WCGC flags illustrate three levels of government working together: Information dissemination by County officials on its software situation has been impacted by cyber-criminal investigations at the federal and state levels, as well as jurisdictions impacted across multiple states. Below, the County’s laptop upgrade for staff and board has arrived.