The county’s IT department shut down its network around 10 a.m. May 24 after detecting malware affecting computers and telephone systems across all departments.
The county has contracted with a third-party security firm to assess the damage caused by the attack and assist with system recovery.
Jill FitzSimmons, Chelan County spokesperson, said Tuesday that the county had recovered access to its financial server, which allows the county to process its payrolls.
Chelan County Commissioners also signed an emergency declaration in response to the ongoing system shutdown, which legally allows commissioners to approve contracts without going through the formal bidding process on account of the current, extreme circumstances, according to FitzSimmons.
"They've moved on from that finance service server," FitzSimmons said. "They're moving on to other critical servers, and they're just moving very systematically through the system, and this is what's going to take the time, and what people are kind of experiencing right now with the county. It is a slow process, and it's a lot of peeking in at these servers, what's on them, what's been encrypted, that sort of thing."
The county has progressively been including updates on its Facebook page, providing updates on how people can interact with the various county departments.
The economic services and public works departments both canceled requests for qualifications for several project assessments, as well as putting project bids on hold at least until phones and emails are back online.
The county's building department asks the public to make all building inspection requests either in person or by calling (509) 679-7402 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The phone number is only temporary while the system outage persists.
Other urgent inquiries can be emailed to the department via their temporary email at chelancountyplanning@gmail.com.
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