A cyberattack that potentially impacted personal information of Kootenai County residents, including Social Security, individual taxpayer identification and drivers’ license numbers, prompted county officials Wednesday to notify those who were affected.

Kootenai County detected the ransomware attack on its computer network March 30, according to a Kootenai County news release. The county, however, has not reported how many residents were affected by the attack or possible suspects.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, ransomware is a type of malicious software — or malware — that prevents users from accessing computer files, networks or systems and demands the infected party pay a ransom for the return over everything seized by the culprit. 

Through its investigation, the county learned that the “cyber criminals took certain data from the County’s network.” The Coeur d’Alene Press could not reach county officials for further information for this story.

“We take this matter very seriously because of our commitment to the privacy and security of all information,” county officials said in the release.

An incident investigation has been launched by the county with the assistance of nationally recognized third-party data forensics consultants — entities in which the county has not revealed. Meanwhile, the county has also contacted federal law enforcement as well as Chief Information Security Officer for the State of Idaho and the Idaho Attorney General.

The Coeur d’Alene Press was able to reach the office of the Chief Information Security Officer for the state of Idaho on Thursday; however, it responded with a written statement and no further information about the cyberattack itself. 

“Idaho State Code requires Idaho counties to report Personally Identifiable Information (PII) breaches to the Idaho Attorney General and the Idaho Office of Information Technology Services (ITS),” the office said. “Insurance carried by most State of Idaho cities, counties, and school districts requires this as a mandatory step as part (of) their cybersecurity incident remediation process.”

The county said it has responded to the cyberattack by taking — or will take — steps to prevent further malfeasance. This includes deploying security tools to enhance detection and accelerate response to cyberattacks, monitoring its network by using end point detection tools, conducting an enterprise-wide password reset, and more preventative measures. 

In addition to basic personal information potentially being affected for Kootenai County residents, biometric identifiers such as fingerprints were also potentially impacted for a “small number of individuals,” according to the release.

“Please accept our apologies that this incident occurred,” the county said in the news release. “The privacy and security of your information is very important to the County, and we remain committed to protecting it.” 

The county encourages anyone with questions or concerns about the incident to call its dedicated assistance line 1-866-200-0996, between 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding major holidays.