A suspected ransomware assault in New Mexico has incapacitated companies for a complete county, together with the native jail—which frighteningly misplaced entry to its digital camera feeds, facility databases, and automatic doorways.

Bernalillo County, which is essentially the most populous within the state and consists of its largest metropolis, Albuquerque, was thrown into chaos final week when the cyberattack hobbled companies throughout the federal government. The assault, which passed off on Jan. 5, pressured the closure of county places of work, threatened databases, and caused major problems for the processing of all the pieces from native property offers to marriage licenses, all of which rely on the county’s community.

“Most county building are closed to the public,” officers introduced in a statement shortly after the assault. “However, county employees are remote working and will assist the public as much as possible, given the circumstances. Vendors for county systems have been notified and are working to solve the issue and restore the system functions.”

Most dramatically, the county’s Metropolitan Detention Center misplaced entry to a few of its key safety features—together with its digital camera feeds and its automated jail doorways. For apparent security causes, this pressured the county to lock down your complete jail, forcing the entire prisoners into their cells for the foreseeable future.

The Verge additional studies that the lockdown additionally spurred a minor authorized kerfuffle, because it put the county in potential violation of the phrases of a 1995 lawsuit settlement regarding confinement circumstances on the jail. That settlement mandated that prisoners be given sure privileges—reminiscent of assured time exterior of cells and entry to communication gadgets, reminiscent of telephones—most of which might’t be accommodated in the course of the present circumstances. As a end result, the county was pressured to file an emergency discover in federal court docket final week, asking the court docket to think about its excellent “emergency” circumstances.

To high issues off, the assault additionally incapacitated—and will have corrupted—necessary jail databases, together with its incident monitoring database, which catalogues the entire violent incidents that happen on the facility, together with claims of sexual assaults and fights.

It’s unclear when this whole mess goes to be cleaned up however one factor is for positive: It’s one more surefire signal that ransomware gangs actually, actually suck—and that we’d like higher federal protections in opposition to them, a technique or one other.