The Petersburg Borough’s computer network experienced a cyber security attack this summer. IT responders cautioned the Borough to limit public disclosure of the incident. Sensitive information was not compromised in the ransomware attack.
“No personally identifiable information, or PII, was exposed,” said Borough Clerk Becky Regula.
According to an Oct. 16 public notice, the Borough’s IT service provider was able to promptly stop the attack, secure the network and investigate the incident. The Borough also reported the attack to the FBI, Attorney General, and state safety departments.
The IT provider, Professional Computer Solutions or PCS, responded when Borough employees noticed they couldn’t access some computers.
“[PCS] had shut down everything within minutes of realizing there had been a breach. So we give a lot of credit to them for their quick response,” said Regula.
She said PCS indicated there was a ransom demand, “But I did not see it, and most employees that I spoke to just were locked out of their computer.”
PCS warned staff to keep conversations about it offline until the extent of the attack was understood, in case the hackers were still monitoring the Borough.
“To be extra cautious, PCS advised us: don’t communicate about this through email at all,” said Regula. “So, we did the old-fashioned paper route, an interoffice memo, and hand-delivered it just to let employees know that help was on the way, and what to do.”
Local business Homeport Electronics helped wipe affected computers and reload software while the PCS team traveled to Petersburg.
“[Homeport] really saved time for PCS when they got here,” Regula said, “so they could continue adding multi-factor authentication and reinstalling network capabilities.”
Borough officials discussed network vulnerabilities and security responses related to the ransomware attack during a closed-door executive session at the Oct. 20 assembly meeting. Regula said the PCS team shared details about the attack and what happened.
“According to PCS, they don’t think this was an outfit that was just taking data in order to hold it ransom, but more of locking the system down and hoping we would pay to unencrypt it,” she said. “Since they’ve seen so many attacks and working with the FBI, they said it wasn’t a sophisticated attack … so in that way we were fortunate.”
Authorities advise against communicating or paying the party behind the attack; Regula said the Borough did not do either.
“It wasn’t an [employee] clicking on a phishing email. It sounded like there was a weakness in a third-party communication, where they were able to get in,” Regula said. “But many of our computers have already been updated with some new, higher-security software, and so they were protected from the attack, which was good.”
The Borough does not store customer credit card and banking information on its network, so that was not accessed during the attack. According to the notice, names and utility account numbers were accessible through the utility billing software system, but the credentials required to access personal information were not. Regula confirmed that a September utility billing delay was not related to the attack.
Residents learned of the attack months after it occurred. Regula said an earlier notice was not triggered because their personal information, as defined by state law, wasn’t compromised. She added that the investigation following the attack was thorough and took time.
“It’s such a project for them to go through and verify, and consult their experts, and talk with the FBI, and just determine what was actually compromised, if anything. So that’s why we’re all the way here in mid-October before you’re hearing about it publicly,” Regula said. “But we just want to assure everybody that their PII was not compromised or exposed during this attack.”
Regula praised the effort and patience of the agencies and employees as the network was brought “back up and running.”
“We were protected from much of the consequences. It could have been worse,” Regula said.
“Hopefully,” she added, “we will be better prepared and have hardened systems so this doesn’t happen again.”
