Cost of Portsmouth Computer Virus is $100K and Rising

PORTSMOUTH, NH - Portsmouth officials said a computer virus that infected the city's system has cost more than $100,000. According to Security Info Watch, municipal computer problems began March 14 and the virus was identified last month as a Trojan horse malware named Emotet.

This week, Deputy City Manager Nancy Colbert Puff, who reported to city officials that the malware was used to mimic city emails, said the city has "has made significant progress in remediating the virus."

She said the city's labor cost, as of Tuesday, is about $56,000 and the hardware/software costs have "totaled close to $47,000."

The Police Department has been conducting its own remediation efforts and has incurred its own related costs. Police Chief Robert Merner said he had two police technology employees working with the city to try to halt the virus. He said the goal of his IT professionals is to first stop it from attacking, then a criminal investigation may follow.

Karen Senecal, the Police Department business manager, reported police had to segregate its operating system from the city's and work on malware-related problems have cost $10,000 to $12,000 to date. She said the costs are associated with overtime pay and the price of a firewall.

City officials are warning residents to be wary of the email "warehouse@water-creation.com," and said if they see it they should delete it.

To read the full article, visit Security Info Watch.