Town Manager Lauds “Swift and Coordinated Action to Secure Municipal Infrastructure.”
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BAR HARBOR—Bar Harbor Town Manager James Smith has issued a press release Friday, August 1, about the town’s data breach this week. The release does not explicitly say if the town office will reopen August 4.
“Following the cybersecurity breach identified on July 30, the Town of Bar Harbor has taken swift and coordinated action to secure municipal infrastructure, protect sensitive data, and begin a comprehensive review of the incident,” said Town Manager James Smith in an update released August 1.
The Bar Harbor town government had announced Thursday that its town office would be closed July 30 and August 1 after a breach of its computer network.
The breach occurred July 30.
“The town has full control of all systems, and removed access from the bad actors,” the town’s original news flash reads.
“Town staff acted immediately to protect critical public services by creating what is known as an air gap. This means we physically disconnected key systems from the broader network to keep them isolated and secure. This included our supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems. These are the control systems used to monitor and control essential operations at our water and wastewater treatment facilities. Town staff were able to ensure that they remained fully operational and uncompromised throughout this event,” he explained.
The staff also made sure that public safety systems for the police, fire, and EMS departments data and communications needs could continue.
“Acting in an abundance of precaution, our finance department froze all existing municipal bank accounts and is establishing new accounts with isolated access controls. Although security measures were already in place following a separate incident earlier this year, we felt it was prudent to take further additional steps to protect all financial activity. Vendors who receive recurring payments or make deposits have been contacted in order to ensure a smooth transition,” Smith said.
The scope of any personal information of employees’ being exposed is still being investigated.
“To lead the evaluation and recovery effort, the town engaged CrowdStrike, a nationally recognized cybersecurity firm, to conduct a third-party independent forensic audit of our system,” Smith said. “This will allow us to determine how the breach occurred and what specific information may have been compromised. Staff also brought in two experienced local IT professionals to assist in reviewing and strengthening our systems prior to bringing them back online. Our insurance provider has been notified, as was the FBI.”
So far, the town hasn’t found viruses or malware.
“No files have been encrypted, deleted, or locked out; and no municipal funds have been lost. These are all encouraging signs that our prompt actions helped contain the situation effectively,” Smith said. “We will provide additional updates as needed. We thank our residents, employees, and community partners for their continued patience and support as we complete the final steps in system restoration and verification.”
It’s not the first issue the town and its school have had with technology and security this year.
In March, Bar Harbor municipal and school officials faced a cybercrime that tried to compromise some of the bond money to pay for the rebuilding of the Conners Emerson School, a project that had already begun.
School Superintendent Mike Zboray became aware that the town’s bond payment for the new school was stolen, March 11.
School staff reported the issue immediately to the Bar Harbor Police Department, the town government, and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). The attack was investigated by the FBI.
“The crime involved a fraudulent request to change bank account information that was submitted on January 9, 2025, and subsequently processed by school staff,” Zboray wrote in a statement to the Bar Harbor community, March 14. “As a result, when Wright-Ryan Construction submitted a legitimate payment request on February 10, 2025, for $1,066,754 for the Bar Harbor School construction project, the funds were unknowingly transferred to the fraudulent account.”
The funds were returned.
“We also notified our bank and insurance providers, and the compromised payment system has been disabled,” Zboray wrote in March in a statement to the community. “Our current understanding is that the account that received the funds has been frozen, and it appears the funds have also been secured.”
A data breach for the Mount Desert Island regional school community, December 28, 2024 had prompted the school system to offer free credit monitoring for adults and identity protection services for minors, School Superintendent Mike Zboray said in January.
Zboray had sent a mass email to the community detailing that the PowerSchool system had a cybersecurity breach.
PowerSchool is a large technology software platform that serves schools throughout North America. There was a cyberattack of that cloud-based software system in late December 2024.
That December 28 data breach, according to MSN, led to the theft of “sensitive personal information, such as names, addresses, and in some cases Social Security numbers and medical information…. Data breaches can lead to identity theft, leaving victims vulnerable to fraud and other illegal activities.”
The town has also recently inadvertently broadcast the audio during a town council executive session, lost a few recordings of workshops, and dealt with a bad actor infiltrating a design review committee meeting via its zoom in an act often referred to as “zoom bombing.”
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