Two weeks after a cyber attack hit Suffolk County, NY’s computers, much of the county's police department is still deeply feeling the effects — and is calling on the NYPD for backup.
The 911 dispatch center at the Suffolk County Police Department headquarters has been reduced to using pen and paper, after hackers took down the county government's computers, NBC New York reports.
"Unfortunately had to go back to our old system where information is recorded by hand and information is handed to the dispatcher, in contrast to putting it into a computer-aided system," said Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison.
The NYPD is providing five additional call operators per tour to help handle the volume of calls. Once a call is received, instead of inputting the incident into a computer, the calls are made to dispatch officers.
Since the hack occurred, those responsible have posted information on the dark web, threatening to publish documents obtained from the hack until the county pays up.