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Missouri county declares state of emergency amid suspected ransomware attack | Outage occurs on same day as special election, but elections offices remain open.

Outage occurs on same day as special election, but elections offices remain open.

Jackson County, Missouri, has declared a state of emergency and closed key offices indefinitely as it responds to what officials believe is a ransomware attack that has made some of its IT systems inoperable. To date, ransomware attacks have hit 28 county, municipal, or tribal governments this year, according to Brett Callow, a threat analyst with security firm Emsisoft. "We are currently in the early stages of our diagnostic procedures, working closely with our cybersecurity partners to thoroughly explore all possibilities and identify the root cause of the situation," officials wrote.

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