A computer virus shut down many local government operations this week in Beatrice, including phone and internet services for several city departments.
City Administrator Tobias Tempelmeyer said departments were without phone and internet service in the downtown area, including City Hall, the Beatrice Police Department and the city auditorium, which houses Beatrice Fire and Rescue. Departments outside of downtown were not impacted by the outage.
“We got hacked early Monday morning,” Tempelmeyer said. “We think around 3:30 a.m., a virus was installed on the computers that came from a remote desktop connection. We are working to undo the virus so we can get things back up and get back to work.”
The virus was not impacting 911 dispatch services, which use a different network.
Police and rescue workers have adjusted by writing their reports with pen and paper instead of electronically.
Services were not restored as of late Tuesday, though Tempelmeyer was hopeful the virus would be removed soon.