According to sources, Apprentice Information Systems/Ouachita County (a Government organization in Arkansas) was hit with a cyber attack. It was first reported on 2022-12-01.
Source 1 | 2022-12-01
“A data breach at Apprentice Information Systems, which led many Arkansas counties to shut down servers, has been mostly repaired, according to county officials. Ouachita County Judge Robert McAdoo said, "It's my understanding that we are partially back up. AIS is still tweaking on some of the finishing touches we have to do." Both the Ouachita County treasurer and clerks' offices were affected by the breach.“
“Ouachita County Treasurer Missy Chambers said, "For the treasurer's office. we have both of our computers back up. AIS called us Monday and Tuesday, we got all the back up in this office. What we are waiting on right now is getting our secure banking back up to full force. We're still able to do payroll. They have to get a paper check; we can't do direct deposit right now." “
“Scott Hollis, Union County's information services manager, told the Union County Quorum Court on Nov. 17 that the security breach, which impacted 54 Arkansas counties, was under federal investigation. “
“"They identified the group that did this as a Russian-Ukrainian group called BlackCat," Hollis said. "They didn't mention any money, anything about actual money being transferred... There was a question of whether it was a ransomware attack, if BlackCat asked for ransom, but they wouldn't say about that, so I figure that's an ongoing investigation, they're not going to talk about it until they know more. "More than likely, they're not going to pay any kind of ransom. That kind of thing – people have stopped paying ransoms because there's no guarantee that they'll actually unencrypt your data. Once they have your money – they don't have to do anything, they can just move on, and people have started realizing that," he continued.“
Guarding Against Data Breaches
Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure
SecuLore provides Managed Detection and Response (MDR) to protect our nation’s critical infrastructure from cyber threats. Our expertise is built on deep knowledge of 9-1-1 technology, cyberwarfare, and ethical hacking, ensuring the highest level of cybersecurity for public safety agencies.