Madison County to pay “ransomware” demand to access county files

Madison County officials say the county will pay a demanded ransom to retrieve county files taken digitally in a cyber attack late last week.  In an emergency meeting on Saturday, Madison County commissioners approved paying a demanded ransom to retrieve essentially kidnapped county government files – like county court records.  The Indiana State Police says it is continuing to investigate and does not advise paying the attackers.

But on Monday, county officials say they will pay the ransom, on the advice of their insurance company.  The county carries ransomware insurance that will cover the cost, which officials are not making public.

County Commissioner John Richwine tells the Herald Bulletin that officials hope records will be released by the hackers on Wednesday.  He says nothing has been lost or deleted – officials just can’t access the files because of the cyber attack.  The county also reiterates that no ballot or election files have been compromised, because those files were stored on a different server.