Tag Archives: Local Government

Even after a major cyber attack, County Hazard Mitigation Plan fails to include cyber attacks

HAGERSTOWN, MD News (1/20/2023) – The Washington County Office of Emergency Management recently released a survey for citizens to participate in Washington County’s hazard mitigation planning process. Noticeably absent from the survey and presentation are any mention of planning for major cyber attacks.

County Still Refuses to Disclose Details of Cyber Attack, is Your Identity at Risk?

HAGERSTOWN, MD News (12/12/2022) – While some experts have suggested the attack was likely ransomware, Washington County has not released critical details if the identities of any Washington County residents or taxpayers was compromised during the attack. After two and a half weeks, the county still has not released details of the cyber attack which crippled county government systems. Slowly, the county has been restoring services affected by the attack, but many questions still remain.

County Cyber Incident Update – More Services Now Available

HAGERSTOWN, MD News (12/2/2022) – Washington County is seeing progress in restoring County systems after the cybersecurity incident that occurred on Thursday, November 24, 2022. Washington County incident response efforts remain in full effect and significant progress has been made. Washington County’s top priority continues to be ensuring community members are safe and can access County government services they rely upon.

County Provides Update on Cybersecurity Incident

HAGERSTOWN, MD News (11/29/2022) – Washington County officials continue working to restore County services that were impacted by the cybersecurity incident on Thursday, November 24, 2022. Washington County’s top priority continues to be ensuring our community members are safe and can access County government services they rely upon.

Sexually Explicit Content – Enough to Permanently Block an Email Address, but Okay for Books in Public Schools?

HAGERSTOWN, MD News (11/27/2022) – Effective immediately, Radio Free Hub City will no longer solicit comment from involved boards or councils of elected officials before publishing articles. This policy is in direct response to an incident which resulted in our email address being permanently blocked by the email provider, because apparently the content of our emails were sexually explicit enough to trigger spam filters, but this same content is perfectly acceptable in school libraries according to WCPS.

Washington County Government Impacted by Cybersecurity Incident

HAGERSTOWN, MD News (11/25/2022) – On November 24, 2022, Washington County Government experienced a cybersecurity incident resulting in disruption to certain computer systems, the County’s website, and certain County services. At this time, the disruption is affecting capabilities at the Emergency Communications Center (911) but does not prevent citizens from being able to report an emergency situation. The County assures residents that all critical public safety services are operational. Citizens seeking emergency support can still place a call to the 911 emergency telephone number and public safety personnel will be dispatched.

Election Update: Grossman likely winner of 2B, Parrott slight lead over Trone

HAGERSTOWN, MD News (11/11/2022) – After counting the first round of mail-in votes, we have several updates regarding local races. Specifically, we now have a winner for Delegate 2B, and more updates on the Congressional District 6 race.

County Commissioners to Consider First-in-Maryland $67k Virtual Reality Police Training System

HAGERSTOWN, MD News (11/10/2022) – On Tuesday, November 15th, the Washington County Commissioners will view a presentation for the Apex Officer Training Simulator for consideration for purchase for the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. The Apex Officer training system is a comprehensive solution that is designed to allow trainers the ability to give presentations and classes, conduct interactive testing and assessment, and provide immersive hands-on scenario-based exercises with detailed debriefing and after-action reviews.