Lincoln, Maine, closed its town office Monday after encrypted files were found on parts of the municipal network, forcing officials to isolate systems and begin restoration work.
The town said its main file server and other network infrastructure were affected. The closure halted in-person operations at the town office, and officials warned that some municipal services could face temporary disruptions.
The available notices did not identify any specific online service as unavailable or say whether emergency communications, public safety systems or utilities were affected.
Lincoln’s IT provider, The Motorbrain Group, alerted officials Saturday, according to a town notice. Preliminary information indicated the activity may have begun Thursday.
The town said it was reviewing backups and restoring systems methodically to avoid reinfection.
A separate notice announced Monday’s closure while recovery continued. In a Facebook update, the town directed residents to state online services for vehicle registrations, hunting and fishing licenses, all-terrain vehicle and boat registrations, and vital-record requests.
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Officials described the event as a cybersecurity incident but have not identified the mechanism or said whether ransomware was involved. The town has not disclosed a ransom demand, a responsible party, a malware family or the initial access vector.
The town also has not said whether an outside party accessed or removed information or disclosed the exact extent of the encryption. Officials said they were still determining which systems and information were affected.
Lincoln’s closure follows other recent cyber incidents that disrupted municipal operations. Fort Smith, Arkansas, said a network security event affected computer systems and city services Sunday as restoration continued. In Suisun City, California, officials declared a local emergency after malicious software compromised municipal IT systems, leaving online services and internal operations unavailable.
No authoritative reopening or full-restoration notice had been posted by Monday. The town said the office would reopen as soon as possible but gave no recovery timetable. It did not respond to a request for comment before publication, and DysruptionHub found no public claim of responsibility.
