ASHLAND — The joint law enforcement dispatching computer network that serves the Ashland police and fire departments was hacked last week and more than 200,000 records were compromised.
The Wooster-Ashland Regional Council of Governments provides 911 dispatching for Ashland, Wooster, Kidron and Orrville.
Wooster Law Director Linda Applebaum issued a press release saying the FBI informed WARCOG of the breach on June 28. The breach took place on June 26, according to the release.
“The privacy of our constituents and the confidentiality of their personal information are of critical importance to us and we are taking this incident very seriously. We will be providing free credit monitoring and identity theft protection services to people affected by the breach. We are reaching out to everyone whose records were involved in this breach to inform them of the steps they can take to activate these services, and we encourage them to do so,” Applebaum said in the release.
The Ashland County Sheriff’s Office operates its own 911 dispatch center and was not affected by the hack.
The Sheriff’s Office previously handled Ashland’s fire and police dispatch until they turned over operations to WARCOG on Sept. 1, 2016.
In the release, Applebaum says the breach is a federal offense and WARCO regrets the incident took place.
“Unfortunately, we know these scams are becoming routine – and increasingly sophisticated. FBI agents have repeatedly assured us that we have taken the correct steps to be ahead of the game in terms of security. Nevertheless, we are conducting a thorough review of all of our network protocols, policies and procedures to reduce the risk of an incident like this happening again,” Applebaum said in the release.
