A week ago, Jackson County government officials discovered their county computer system had been victimized by online criminals. Even after paying the hackers $400,000, they're still trying to get the system back up and running.
County Manager Kevin Poe told the Athens Banner-Herald in a Friday interview that the county opted to pay the so-called ransom, rather than having the system crippled for months.
Poe said the county used a cyber-security response expert to negotiate with the hackers. The consultant paid the hackers in bitcoin and the county reimbursed the consultant, according to the newspaper report.
Poe estimated the hackers had been infiltrating the Jackson County computer system for a couple of weeks before the discovery was made. The FBI is still working to determine how the hackers gained access to the system.
