County Hit With ‘Network Security Incident’; Officials Working To Protect Personal Info, Get Back Online

BOSCAWEN, NH — Merrimack County officials are working with network security and third-party experts to find out why its network was disrupted this week.

Limited information is available about the attack on the county’s network.

Officials said as of Wednesday, “certain impacted systems remain offline out of an abundance of caution, which may limit services.” Others, though, have been restored.

Patch first learned about the incident Tuesday afternoon, when a county dispatcher announced to officers in several jurisdictions that it could not access criminal data from the state’s IMC software and system.

IMC allows officers in the field to obtain driving information, criminal records, and active warrants. Nearly 20 law enforcement departments rely on a dozen county dispatchers to assist with their calls on two channels, on the east and west sides of the Merrimack River. The county was able to utilize other departments for information.

Concord police were not affected during the security attack.

At the time of publication, it is unknown whether any other counties in New Hampshire were hit by the security attack.

On Wednesday, County Administrator Ross Cunningham confirmed the attack and said it would take several days to resolve the issues.

“Protecting the security and privacy of personal information is of the utmost importance of Merrimack County,” he said. “Merrimack County apologizes for the concern and inconvenience this matter causes and will issue updates regarding this matter to the community as appropriate.”

Concord NH Patch will update this post when more information becomes available.

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