Network outage disrupts phones, internet for Strafford County

Many government services in Strafford County were using workarounds Tuesday to deal with a network outage affecting phone and internet.Officials said the county’s IT department shut off phones and internet over the weekend because of suspicious online activity.The outage affected facilities such as the courthouse, jail and the nursing home in the county complex in Dover.Officials said they hope to get the final word on what happened and get operations back to normal sometime Tuesday afternoon.>> Download the free WMUR app to get updates on the go: Apple | Google Play <<“At the recommendation of our IT department, we shut down our whole IT operation,” said Strafford County Administrator Ray Bower.That included phone and computer operations at the county complex, affecting the jail, nursing home and hospice house. It did not stop any operations at the sheriff’s department.”Computerized booking, we have to do manually now, like we did in the old days, and I imagine once this is resolved, there will be some catch-up,” Bower said.The courthouse was affected, including the trial of a man accused of shooting his neighbor during a snow plowing dispute. That trial paused Monday.”We’re really heavily reliant on email,” Strafford County Attorney Emily Garod said. “We’re heavily reliant on the internet, the ability to e-file with the court upstairs, send out discovery to defense – so, it is a major disruption.”The county attorney said that court operations moved ahead as scheduled on Tuesday.Bower said past disaster drills helped the complex handle the disruption well. He said people were able to use mobile hotspots and cellphones to communicate.A Concord company is analyzing data to determine what exactly happened to the network. With phone lines down, Garod said anyone who needs to reach her office should stop by directly. The office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

link