Chelan County, Washington, shut down government networks, computers and phones across all departments after malware was detected Sunday, leaving offices without core systems but 911 service available, the county said.
The shutdown could affect residents trying to reach county offices or complete time-sensitive business involving records, permits, payments or other department services. Chelan County, whose county seat is Wenatchee, had an estimated 81,941 residents in 2025, according to the Washington State Association of Counties.
Chelan County Government said in a public post that its networks “have been hacked by malware,” affecting “all departments within Chelan County government.” As a precaution, the county shut down its network, computers and telephone system across departments while IT staff worked with security partners to restore systems.
Chelan County Emergency Management said county IT detected the malware around 10 a.m. Sunday, May 24, according to KOMO News. Because county offices were closed Monday, officials said they expected to provide another update Tuesday.
Emergency services remain available. Officials told residents to call RiverCom 911 in an emergency and said the issue was not expected to slow responses to calls handled by the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office, according to KOMO News. RiverCom says it is the regional public safety answering point for Chelan and Douglas counties and dispatches law enforcement, fire and emergency medical agencies.
Everbridge emergency notifications remain active, though the county said residents may see slight delays because notifications are being routed through a third party, according to NonStop Local. Chelan County says it uses Everbridge to send emergency alerts by text, email or voicemail, as well as notices for significant non-emergency incidents.
Residents with critical business before a county department were asked to visit that department in person during regular business hours, according to Source ONE News. Officials have not said which online portals, records systems, payment systems or email services were affected.
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DysruptionHub was unable to access Chelan County’s main website during repeated manual checks before publication, though the reason was not immediately clear. Officials have not said whether the website, linked online services, portals or records systems were affected by the countywide network shutdown.
The county has confirmed malware but has not publicly confirmed ransomware, a threat actor, data theft or a ransom demand. Officials said they did not yet know the extent or full scope of the damage, and KIRO 7 reported it was unclear whether personal data had been compromised. DysruptionHub emailed Chelan County seeking details on affected services, restoration timing, possible data exposure, law enforcement involvement and whether the incident is being investigated as ransomware, but the county did not respond before publication.
Chelan County’s outage follows other Washington public-sector cyber disruptions in which local agencies shut down or lost access to public-facing systems while trying to preserve core services. Franklin County officials said a June 2024 brute-force attack prompted systems to be taken offline, with most later restored and no data reported stolen. Palouse officials said in April 2026 that the city website had been restored from a hosting provider backup after a cyberattack. West Pierce Fire & Rescue said in December 2025 that email and nonemergency phone lines were unavailable after a cybersecurity incident, though fire suppression, EMS and 911 remained fully operational.
As of Monday afternoon, Chelan County had not announced a restoration timeline or whether data was accessed. The next public update is expected Tuesday.
