The City of Monroe is aware of a potential security/data incident related to its utility billing vendor, Automatic Funds Transfer Services, Inc (AFTS). The City of Monroe contracts with AFTS to handle Monroe resident and commercial utility billing, including processing of paper check payments. The AFTS servers were encrypted by ransomware sometime between the evening of February 3rd and the morning of February 4th. There is no direct threat to the City of Monroe’s network as a result of this incident.
The information stored in the AFTS databases is limited to data necessary to fulfill utility billing and payment processing of paper check payments. Electronic payments are processed by a different vendor who is not impacted by the incident. Potentially breached information from the AFTS database may have included the following personal information: utility bill account number, name, address, and billing amounts. Additionally, for residents or businesses who pay their utility bills by mailing a paper check, scanned copies of their paper checks are also stored on the AFTS servers which include bank account and routing information. It is unknown at this time whether these scanned copies of checks have been illicitly extricated from the network. The databases do not contain social security numbers, birth dates, driver’s license numbers, state ID numbers or any other Personally Identifiable Information (PII). The databases do not contain any resident or commercial business credit card information.
Residents or businesses who pay their utility bill by mailing a paper check are encouraged to monitor their bank account for unusual activity and report anything suspicious to their bank right away. Social security and driver’s license numbers were not stored in the AFTS databases.
The City of Monroe takes its role of safeguarding personal information very seriously. We continue to discuss additional measures that we as a municipality can adopt to ensure the highest level of security for personal information. For questions, please contact City of Monroe Utility Billing at 360-794-7400 or utilitybilling@monroewa.gov.