No data compromised in cyberattack on town of Cornelius, officials say

No data was compromised after staff were able to thwart a cyberattack aimed at the town of Cornelius, officials said Monday.

The incident started when an officer with the Cornelius Police Department inadvertently interacted with a computer virus while working on an investigation July 10, according to a news release from the town.

“The town’s advanced cyber-security measures, which have been in place for years and have prevented thousands of attacks to date, were unable to detect and prevent this very sophisticated virus from entering the network,” the release said.

Town officials were alerted to “unusual activity” by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security the next day, officials said.

“The Town’s Technology Operations (TechOps) Department located the virus and immediately severed all on-site technology and devices in order to proactively contain the threat,” the release said.

Though the virus was thought to be ransomware, it was later determined to be malware, officials said.

Multiple agencies assisted with the investigation, including the NC Local Government Information Systems Agency, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Emergency Management, City of Charlotte Information Technology Department, DHS, NC National Guard, and FBI.

“This incident was particularly sophisticated and was able to bypass multiple security measures and safeguards that the Town has put into place,” Cornelius Town Manager Andrew Grant said in a news release. “Sophisticated viruses, such as this one, are often updated by their creators in order to avoid detection and prevention. It is due to the great work of our TechOps staff that the virus was contained and was not allowed to cause significant damage or pose a greater risk.”

All functions and town services were restored Tuesday, but there may be delays in non-emergency services, according to a news release.