The county learned of the release Wednesday and announced it later that day.
“We take this very seriously and will be doing a comprehensive review of this information with the assistance of law enforcement and our third-party cyber security partners to determine what and whose information is potentially involved, which will take time to complete,” the county stated.
Any people whose private information is discovered will be notified by the county “as quickly as possible and in accordance with applicable law,” according to the county.
Resources for those affected also will be provided by the county to help protect personal information, officials said.
The county’s offices returned to close to normal operations April 24 after parts of the county’s network were taken offline to limit the attack’s threat. Among the systems impacted were those for the county’s vital statistics and Department of Motor Vehicles. Emergency services in the county were never interrupted.
The county was assisted by the Minnesota National Guard in response to the attack, which was detected April 7.
It was the second ransomware attack faced by the county this year; the first was disclosed in January. A preliminary investigation indicated the attacks were perpetrated by different cybercriminals, according to the county earlier this month.
A local state of emergency was declared in response to both attacks.
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