CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Mecklenburg County officials say 48 of the county's servers are being held for ransom after they were hacked, County Manager Dena Diorio said Tuesday.
According to Diorio, a county employee clicked an attachment in an email they shouldn’t have, exposing the files to the hackers, who are demanding 2 Bitcoin, or $23,000, in ransom money to release the files. Diorio said no personal information was compromised during the hack. The hackers told Mecklenburg County they have until 1 p.m. Wednesday to pay the ransom.
Diorio said Mecklenburg County officials are considering paying the ransom but are also evaluating how much it would cost to decrypt the files themselves.
As the county looks to settle this situation, Mecklenburg County is asking customers to confirm their transportation schedules.
Mecklenburg County instructs all customers who have made a transportation reservation through DSS/MTS to call customer connection at 704-336-4547. This includes reservations made for bus passes and vendor transportation trips scheduled through December 11.
This is a developing story. Please stick with WCNC.com as more information becomes available.