PHILADELPHIA, Miss. (Queen City Newsfeed) Local law enforcement appears to be back on email after a cyberattack knocked it out for about a week. Philadelphia Police Chief Eric Lyons confirmed his department is back up and running after the Neshoba County cyberattack outage.
“We had a few small issues getting everything restored and back up and running, but it looks like all of that has been fixed,” Lyons said. “We had trouble sending emails, but it appears to be working now.”
The Neshoba County Sheriff’s Department also appears to be working again. This week, the department sent Queen City Newsfeed its weekly arrest reports for the past two weeks.
The attack hit U.S.NEXT, also known as USNX. The Jackson tech company hosts email for the Philadelphia Police Department and the Neshoba County Sheriff’s Department. It also hosts the city of Philadelphia’s website. The outage began Oct. 8.
Email is partly back
USNX said email came back on the morning of Thursday, Oct. 15. In an Oct. 16 update, the company said two types of email access are working again. One is webmail, which means checking email in a web browser. The other is called POP.
A third type of access, called IMAP, is set to return at 9 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, according to USNX. Many phones and email programs use IMAP. So, some users may still not get email the way they normally do until then.
USNX said IMAP users should save copies of their old emails before Oct. 22. The company said that will help keep them from losing older messages.
Users will also need to change some settings in their email programs. USNX posted steps on its website.
Websites still being fixed
USNX said it continues to make progress on client websites. However, the company said the work takes many steps. It said it must fix both software and hardware.
“We’re moving as rapidly as we can, but we have to exercise caution in the process,” the company said. “At this time, we don’t have a firm estimate on recovery time.”
How it started
The outage began early on Oct. 8. The next day, USNX said a cyberattack was to blame. The company said it is working with the FBI and Homeland Security. It also said no client account or billing details were taken.
The Neshoba Democrat first reported the outage on Oct. 12. The newspaper reported that the attack affected dozens of government offices across the state. According to the Democrat, neighboring Kemper County also uses USNX. So do Hinds and Madison counties.
Before email came back, Neshoba County Sheriff Eric Clark said the outage had “crippled” his office. He said deputies could not easily reach other agencies by email.
What this means for you
USNX also said emails sent during the outage will likely never arrive. So, if you emailed a local office between Oct. 8 and Oct. 15, send it again or call.
- Philadelphia Police Department: 601.656.2131
- Neshoba County Sheriff’s Department: 601.656.1414
- Philadelphia City Hall: 601.656.3612
- In an emergency, always call 911.
