Borough continues recovery efforts after cyber attack

The Mat-Su Borough is continuing to make progress to recover after a cyber attack, according to its head of IT.

On Tuesday night, IT Director Eric Wyatt updated the borough assembly on the impacts of the attack and what is being done to get the borough’s computer systems back online.

Wyatt says the incident is what is known as a “zero day attack,” meaning the methods used were not known to antivirus software and security experts before the attack was launched. He says the specific viruses used each had different purposes, from disabling systems and gathering data to what is referred to as ransomware, where hackers can force an organization to pay to unlock data the virus seals away. According to Wyatt, the iterations of each virus are the worst ones currently active in the U.S. This, he believes, says a lot about whoever launched the attack.

“So the group we are facing that has unleashed this particular attack on and others is a very well-organized group, and they are using the most sophisticated tools. They have done a lot of damage across the country, to include us.”

The borough is working with the FBI, other agencies, and local businesses to get systems up and running again. That process takes time, however. While it will be awhile before the systems are at 100%, Eric Wyatt believes most functions should be restored by later this month.

“We should have all primary functions online by early next week, and then within about three weeks we may be to about ninety-percent capability.”

All that work is not free. Between new software and hardware and overtime for staff, Wyatt says the cost to recover from an attack like this is normally around a million dollars for an organization the size of the borough, though he adds that current cost estimates are lower than that. Also, the borough does carry cyber attack insurance.

In addition, Borough Manager John Moosey has declared the cyber attack an emergency, which means there is the possibility of aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.