WINONA, Minn. (WXOW) – Winona County officials held a press conference Friday to update the public on the second cyber attack to hit the city this year.
The attack started on Monday, April 6, and continued into Tuesday, when it was identified. To prevent further threats, Winona took their main network offline and gained assistance from the Minnesota National Guard.
County officials noted that a majority of county systems have now been restored except for DMV and vital statistics services, which remain unavailable.
While the county is still operating, officials say some services may be slower.
“County operations remain open and staffed. Our employees are here doing their jobs and continuing to serve the public,” said Ben Klinger, Winona County emergency management director. “That said, some services are slower than normal, and processes are being done manually while systems are restored.”
Officials added that cases like this are becoming more common as cyber attacks against local governments continue to rise across the United States.
“Trends that indicate that attacks against state, local, tribal, territorial entities to include cities, counties, schools, hospitals are on the rise, and that’s due to the fact that these threat actors are typically financially motivated and those entities have a lot of sensitive data that they’re looking to get in ransom,” said Lt. Col. Brian Morgan, director of the Cyber Coordination Cell for the Minnesota National Guard. “So, it is a trend that we’re seeing increase.”
During the press conference, 19 News was informed the two attacks were carried out by different cyber criminals.
Officials are still unsure if any personal information was compromised during this attack due to the ongoing criminal investigation.
