On Tuesday, officials with the Matanuska-Susitna Borough officially declared a disaster, owing to A cyber attack being called “the worst of its type in the nation.” The attack, which took over the Borough’s systems, bringing down lead servers, phone systems, and individual employee computers, is a multi-faceted threat, which acts in different ways. The attacks, known world-wide for their severity and sophistication, caused the Borough’s computer infrastructure to be compromised. Assembly Member Ted Leonard called it a “terrorist attack.” In a meeting Tuesday, the decision was made to officially declare the attack a disaster for the Borough, based on the magnitude and severity of the attack, which is expected to cost the Borough hundreds of thousands of dollars to recover from. Borough IT director Eric Wyatt said organizations of the same size and type as Mat-Su generally cost $1 million to recover from the attack, but their estimate now is less than that. Following an official disaster declaration, the Borough will be eligible for funds from FEMA to assist with costs related to the disaster, including disruption to Borough services and loss of productivity (many employees were without email and computer usage, delivering type-written memos by hand, and checking out library books by writing names and barcodes on slips of paper), as well as overtime being paid to IT staff, who are working around the clock to fix the damage done and bring the systems back up. All told, Wyatt said, several different known attacks were identified, including the virus Emotet, a system-crippling agent, and also a ransomware called BitPaymer, and malware called Dridex. These were referenced by IT director Eric Wyatt at Tuesday’s meeting for being the main damage-dealers and the “worst of its type.” He said the group using these to attack the Borough is well-organized, and well-funded.
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‘This is not somebody in his mother’s basement’: Massive cyberattack prompts Mat-Su disaster declaration
ANCHORAGE (KTUU) – On Tuesday, officials with the Matanuska-Susitna Borough officially declared a disaster, owing to a cyberattack they referred to as “the worst of its type in the nation.”
The attack, which took over the Borough’s systems, bringing down lead servers, phone systems, and individual employee computers, is a multi-faceted threat, which acts in different ways.
The attacks are also known world-wide for their severity and sophistication, causing the Borough’s computer infrastructure to be compromised. Assembly Member Ted Leonard called it a “terrorist attack.”
“This is not somebody in his mother’s basement,” said Borough IT Director Eric Wyatt. “This is … definitely an organization that wants to cause chaos within our country.”
In a meeting Tuesday, the decision was made to officially declare the attack a disaster for the Borough, based on the magnitude and severity of the attack, which is expected to cost the Borough hundreds of thousands of dollars to recover from.
“We declared a state of emergency primarily because the dollar amount of the damage is going to be greater than a threshold,” said Wyatt, who also estimated the costs to be somewhere near but less than $750,000.
Wyatt added that organizations of the same size and type as Mat-Su generally cost $1 million to recover from the attack, though their current estimate is less than that.
Following the official disaster declaration, the Borough could be eligible for funds from FEMA to assist with costs related to the disaster, including disruption to Borough services and loss of productivity (many employees were without email and computer usage, delivering type-written memos by hand, and checking out library books by writing names and barcodes on slips of paper), as well as overtime being paid to IT staff, who are working around the clock to fix the damage done and bring the systems back up.