ELIZABETHTOWN — Bladen County recently caught a virus.
According to Computer Operations Director Robin Hewitt, a county employee opened a document two weeks ago, and it infected all of Bladen County’s emails, virtually making any email contact in or out of county departments impossible.
Hewitt said the county has several layers of protections and virus cleaners, but the virus in question “is a new strand” and wasn’t recognized. He added that the county quickly hired a company to investigate the forensics of the problem.
“This virus spread really quickly through our system,” Hewitt said. “But we’ve been able to determine that no important data or credentials were captured.”
He did say there had been some concern over the use of credit card payments online, but any incidents of that were being monitored for any potential breach of data.
“I just want to express, on behalf of the board, our appreciation for all of the time and effort you and everyone involved have put in on this,” said County Chairman Charles Ray Peterson.
Hewitt gave no indication when the county email system would be back to operational.
W. Curt Vincent can be reached by calling 910-862-4163 or cvincent@bladenjournal.com.