Politics & Government

Personal Information Probably Not Compromised in Hacker Attack, SCC Officials Say

The home pages of several St. Charles County sites were hacked for several early-morning hours on Tuesday.

If you tried to access the home pages of the St. Charles County assessor, sheriff, elections or finance department in the early-morning hours of Jan. 8, you probably saw a message that said "hacked by Hmei7."

The local government website was one of more than 5,000 sites world-wide that suffered the attack.

According to St. Charles County officials, the County was not being targeted.

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"It was an automated attack," St. Charles County Public Affairs Coordinator Colene McEntee told Patch. McEntee confirmed that the officials met Tuesday morning to determine the cause and extent of the hacker's attack.

The attack occurred at 2:30 a.m., McEntee said. County officials found out about it at 8 a.m. and had it cleared up by 9 a.m. The attack was limited to the home pages of the Assessor, Elections, County Council, Sheriff, and Finance Departments.

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"As far as we know, no personal information was compromised," McEntee said. As a result of the attack, she said, the county was in the process of upgrading its online security.


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