North Carolina county’s servers hacked; $23K ransom sought

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Authorities in a North Carolina county say its servers have been hacked and are being held for ransom.

Mecklenburg County Manager Dena Diorio told local media outlets that someone opened an email attachment they shouldn’t have, helping the hacker gain entry to the system.

According to county officials, all of the information technology service systems in the county are shut down, impacting email, printing and business at most county offices. Diorio said she doesn’t believe the hackers have access to personal information.

Departments affected by the outage are implementing contingency plans.

Diorio said the hacker wants $23,000 or two bitcoin for the files, and gives the county until 1 p.m. Wednesday to make a decision. She said leaders are considering paying the ransom.