JACKSONVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA – Hackers attacked the Onslow County Water and Sewage Authority, known as ONWASA, getting the FBI and Department of Homeland Security involved in investigating the cyber attack.
- Onslow County first got struck with a minor virus October 4 and then their systems shut down October 14
- The staff is now handling things by paper and pencil system both at the office and at the treatment plant
- ONWASA says their customers’ personal and financial information is kept safe at a different location and is not at risk
“ONWASA does not negotiate with criminals," said CEO Jeffrey Hudson. "And they will not be paying a ransom to hackers who set off a sophisticated virus October 13, three in the morning. The ROYUK virus encrypts data, which can then be held for ransom, basically the hackers are holding ONWASA hostage.”
Onslow County first got struck with a minor virus October 4 and then their systems shut down October 14.
Hudson says although it takes longer, the staff of 125 is handling things the old school way, paper and pencil system both at the office and at the treatment plant.
“Right now we are producing water manually, we are treating wastewater manually, we are doing service order in the field, new connections, disconnections, all of those things, we are fine on a manual basis, until our computer systems are brought back up.”
ONWASA says their customers’ personal and financial information is kept safe at a different location and is not at risk. Hudson says this problem should not be impacting customers who should still be able to make a payment, either online over the phone or at their Jacksonville office in person.
The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are working diligently on this case, especially because ONWASA is so close to three military bases.
They are in the process of building a brand new computer networking system to replace the one compromised.