County's Web site hacked; no data lost
The Web site for Allen County has been offline for about a week after someone hacked into an application that runs the site.
County spokeswoman Mary Hitchens called the episode nothing more than a prank and said that no data posted on the site were tampered with. The Web site’s server is separate from other computer servers used by the county protecting other pertinent data like property assessments, Hitchens said.
No sensitive information such as Social Security numbers or employee information appears to have been accessed because that information was not included on the Web site. The only evidence of tampering was a message on the front page of the site the hacker left saying “You’ve been hacked,” Hitchens said.
County computer staff pulled the site down to rebuild it, she said.
An application used to run a “Frequently Asked Questions” area on some county department pages was deemed the culprit. The application was apparently a known weak spot, Hitchens said.
The hacker was outside the United States, she said.
The county’s Web site is backed up regularly, so no data or information was lost. After the site is back up and running, it should look the same as before, Hitchens said.
Officials anticipate it should be available for residents’ use soon, although the site was supposed to be online Friday. The county’s Web technician position is currently vacant, which has delayed the repairs, Hitchens said.
aiacone@jg.net
Mayor Tom Henry and the Allen County commissioners will welcome the award-winning Voices of Unity Youth Choir back to American soil in downtown Fort Wayne today.