Middle Georgia State University's Alan Stines says that if there is a potential breach, the team needs to look at all servers looking for problems.
MACON, Ga. — Macon-Bibb County says 90% of its systems are back online after a potential data breach.
They haven't said much about what's going on or what they've done to address the problem, but Alan Stines, a cybersecurity expert with Middle Georgia, says they're doing a good job of handling the issue. Stines says most local governments have plans in place for situations like this, and their systems will notify you immediately if something goes wrong.
“The first thing you need to do is check it out,” Stines said.
There are several ways to confirm a data breach. The most common method, which you may have heard from your IT department, is to turn it off and turn it back on.
“That might mean turning off some systems or disabling some systems until we can isolate the problem,” Stines explained.
The county has taken steps to close various departments until most systems are restored. Stines said it was the right decision to do so to prevent further damage.
“A lot of modern malware these days can actually move from computer to computer or network to network. So the more you can disable it faster, the more impact it can have across your organization. ,” Stines said.
From that point, he says, it will search all networks and servers to find the problem. There is no timeline for that.
“'We don't have any issues here. Let's put these up and make sure they're OK,'” he explained the process. “Then we continue to monitor. If they're not triggering any of the alerts I mentioned, then they're probably OK.”
After that you need to proceed carefully.
“You don't want to bring back online the compromised systems that were there in the first place, because then the problem could get out of control again,” he said.
Stines says that in most situations, all IT departments need is time. The county used that time to restore most online services. This includes “See Click Fix” problem reporting sites and some bill payment services.
As of last Friday, the tax office was unable to accept property tax payments.
