A report published in Review Journal has confirmed
that the city of Henderson has spent $40,000 to make sure that hackers, who had
gained access to its Web server for nine days, hadn’t got access to the
government systems. Along with it, the city has decided to launch a law-enforcement
investigation.
However, the city has yet to make any public announcement about
the data breach.
The city has
confirmed with the Review Journal that the hackers were not being able
to steal any personal or sensitive information. They only got to see the raw
versions of public data that are already searchable through Web forms.
All the Henderson employees were told to change their passwords.
"This is the first time since I've been here, and the
first time I'm aware of, that we actually have somebody who got this far,"
said Laura Fucci, the city's chief information officer, who has been with Henderson
since late 2012, told Review Journal.
According to the report, the city had detected the hack on June
29 when a system administrator noticed errors in a "tool" that
monitors anonymous activity. Realizing there had been an intrusion, the
administrator disabled the server, and the city started trying to determine how
far the hacker had gotten.
Fucci declined to discuss how the attacker gained access
beyond saying "hacking tools" were used. She said the city quickly
decided to hire an outside company to investigate the breach and make sure it
had been contained.
The city detention center is offline for more than six
weeks. It goes online once the city gets it confirmed that it
is safe.
Today, the website reads, "Inmate Information is
temporarily unavailable at this time. We apologize for any inconvenience and
appreciate your patience. Please call 702-267-JAIL (5245) for more
information."