Malware attack disrupts Passaic County phone lines and computer systems
Passaic County says several other local governments in New Jersey have experienced similar incidents.
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Passaic County says it is working with federal and state officials on a malware attack that is affecting its IT systems and phone lines.
Officials say the county’s phones stopped working Wednesday.
Passaic County says several other local governments in New Jersey have experienced similar incidents.
Greg Sanfilippo, the VP of Doyle Security Services, says this is serious and starts with a malicious actor.
"It injects some sort of virus into the system and there are a number of ways to do that, a thumb drive or accesses it remotely or email, someone opens an email or link," said Sanfilippo. "Once it's in it's similar to having an exterminator come to your house."
County officials haven't said if any data has been compromised.
And while no connection has been made, given the political climate, there's naturally fears of this type of attack on a global level.
"As what goes on in the Middle East continues, we do have the possibility of likelihood of seeing more of these types of attacks, can't verify this was from Iran, but this type of activity is going to pick up," said Sanfilippo.
The malware attack is being investigated by federal, state and county officials, who are also working to resolve the issue.
