Washco-md.net Website Compromised, Third County Security Incident This Year

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Today as part of our routine monitoring of local government website updates with new content, we at Radio Free Hub City discovered that the official web portal for Washington County, Maryland, has fallen victim to a sophisticated black-hat SEO campaign. This malicious activity has resulted in the hosting of numerous illicit pharmacy guides that promote the purchase of controlled substances without a prescription. After this discovery, we promptly alerted Washington County’s IT administrators with the technical evidence needed for immediate action.

The investigation uncovered approximately two dozen distinct PDF documents stored directly on the county’s web server within the /wp-content/uploads/wpforms/tmp/ directory. These guides are actively promoting the sale of high-risk prescription medications, including opioids and sedatives such as Tramadol, Oxycodone, Percocet, Methadone, Clonazepam, Butalbital, and Farmapram (alprazolam), without requiring a prescription. Each document contains promotional graphics for an online pharmacy, discount codes, direct ordering links, and auto-generated news headlines, all designed to manipulate search engine algorithms into indexing them as current content.

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The exploit has already begun to affect search engine results for washco-md.net, with public queries for controlled substances now leading to county-hosted links. This allows illicit online medication sellers to exploit the trusted domain authority of Washington County’s government website to achieve prominent search engine rankings. Radio Free Hub City provided an urgent report to Washington County’s Department of Information Technology and web management team, detailing the specific file paths, directories, affected search listings, and necessary server-hardening steps to remove the malicious files and prevent further automated uploads.

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This incident highlights ongoing security concerns regarding Washington County’s digital infrastructure. The county experienced a significant ransomware attack in late 2022 that disrupted county operations. Additionally, in April and May of 2026, two separate internal security breaches occurred, involving the unauthorized release of restricted airport surveillance footage and confidential county personnel records. The current compromise could potentially expose residents to dangerous unregulated medications and further damage public trust in the county’s digital security, or potentially result in higher insurance premiums, costing the taxpayers more money every year.

This is a developing story and will be updated if new information is made available by the county.