WILMINGTON – The Clinton County Board of Developmental Disabilities has notified all affected clients, their families, past and current employees, and volunteers of a recent unauthorized intrusion of its data network.

On March 16 a ransomware attack was detected, and it was determined that hackers had gained access to the organization’s server, which held data on employees and individuals related to their treatment by the Clinton County Board of Developmental Disabilities.

Kyle Lewis, Superintendent of the Clinton County Board of Developmental Disabilities, said that after a thorough investigation by a leading forensics company, the board is confident that the ransomware has been contained and removed from their network. He also said that they did not find any evidence indicating that data was extracted from the server or inappropriately used by anyone.

The Clinton County Board of Developmental Disabilities has mailed letters notifying its clients and employees about the incident and is offering complimentary one year access to the fraud detection tools available through a leading fraud detection and identity restoration provider, Experian.

The information that may have been accessed included client names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, treatment plan information, medical history, and other medical information.

“We take this matter very seriously,” said Lewis, “and we have taken several steps to address this incident responsibly including reviewing, analyzing, and enhancing the security of our computer network, including our incident detection and response processes and scheduling comprehensive data security and privacy training sessions for all employees to increase cyber awareness in order to further protect all personal information on our systems.”