The Scotland County Tax Office and Sheriff’s Office were the sole county agencies to remain open on Friday following what county officials are describing a “cyber incident.”
Tomeka Sinclair | The Laurinburg Exchange
LAURINBURG —All government offices throughout Scotland County closed Friday but two following what an official calls a “cyber incident” on Thursday.
In a statement released around 3 p.m. Thursday, County Manager April Snead revealed that “Scotland County has suffered a cyber incident.”
In the statement, Snead said the county is receiving “great assistance” from information technology company VC3, which was recently hired to replace the county’s in-house information technology team.
Snead also stated that Scotland County is receiving assistance from the North Carolina Local Government Information Systems Association and the North Carolina Joint Cyber Security Taskforce, comprised of law enforcement and emergency management, N.C. National Guard Cyber, the Local Government IT Strike Team, state IT/cyber specialists, and federal agencies that provide incident coordination, resource support and technical assistance to reduce the impact on an affected organization, mitigate vulnerabilities and offer on-scene response personnel to aid in incident recovery, according to its website.
“Emergency services are not affected at this time and are operating as normal. As information becomes available this will be provided,” Snead said.
The Scotland County Tax and Sheriff’s departments were the sole county offices to remain open on Friday. However, officials stated cellular services were unaffected, and county offices could be reached by calling 910-277-2406.