Spartanburg Cyberattacks Show Why Isolation Beats Detection

Spartanburg County: A Wake-Up Call

In a troubling recent series of events, Spartanburg County (South Carolina) has been under nearly constant cyber siege. Employees report “almost daily phishing attempts, unexplained outages, and lingering damage” from a 2023 ransomware attack that destroyed years of county records. (fitsnews.com)

Some key incidents:

• Multiple disruptions in systems like Munis, the county’s financial management software for payroll and budgeting. These interruptions are delaying purchasing, access, and general operations.

• Failures in OnBase, which stores scanned legal and case documents, contracts, marriage licenses, and more. Users flagged login failures with locked or invalid credentials, interrupting access to essential county data.

• Highly targeted phishing campaigns continue daily. Emails spoof law enforcement, claiming to come from the county or sheriff’s office to trick staff. Some departments have been warned explicitly to avoid clicking suspicious links.

Even more alarming is what happened back in April 2023: A ransomware campaign swept through the network, encrypting files (including those with a .medusa extension), wiping out data, and causing long-term damage. It wasn’t contained. “Everything stored locally… was lost,” an employee said.

This is what happens when organizations rely almost entirely on detection and response. Detecting an attack after it has infiltrated, then trying to clean up causes massive disruption, loss of data, and long recovery times.

Why Detect & Respond Is No Longer Enough

Detecting threats is important, but it is reactive. Response after damage is often underway. These gaps leave windows of opportunity for attackers to:

• Spread laterally across your network

• Encrypt and exfiltrate data before anyone notices

• Disrupt critical operations that cost time, money, and reputation

In Spartanburg’s case, days and weeks of impact were not prevented—they were managed after the fact. The damage had already been done.

Isolation & Containment: The Better Strategy

Rather than waiting to detect and then respond, what if you could block, isolate, and contain threats as soon as suspicious behavior or malicious code attempts to act? That is the mindset shift needed.

Isolation and containment mean:

1. Stopping threats at the endpoint before they spread

2. Containing any suspicious or malicious activity so it cannot impact adjacent systems

3. Preventing ransomware, malware, and phishing attacks from escalating by cutting off their ability to move, infect, or encrypt

This reduces risk massively. If a piece of malware tries to run, it is isolated. If a phishing link is clicked, follow-up actions can be blocked. The damage is minimized.

AppGuard: A Proven Solution

Enter AppGuard, a mature, trusted endpoint protection platform with over 10 years of track record in high-risk environments including government and critical infrastructure. Key strengths:

• It doesn’t just detect bad actors—it prevents unauthorized behavior by isolating potential threats from trusted assets

• It works in hostile settings where rapid response and containment matter

• It has been battle tested over time, refining its ability to block malicious activity even when other security layers fail

For businesses, this means you can deploy AppGuard to shift your security posture from reactive to proactive. From detecting attacks after they begin to preventing them before they spread.

What Business Owners Must Do Now

If you run an organization that depends on data, uptime, and trust, you must:

• Reassess your current security strategy. Are you only detecting and reacting, or are you preventing and containing?

• Evaluate endpoint protection tools that offer containment and isolation capabilities

• Prioritize business continuity. Cyberattacks do not only cost money—they cost reputation and trust

Conclusion

Spartanburg County’s struggles are a cautionary tale. Despite investments in cybersecurity, without isolation and containment, damage can be widespread, recovery long, and losses immense.

Now, there is technology like AppGuard that enables businesses to go beyond simply “detect and respond.” It empowers them to isolate and contain threats early, preventing the kind of chaos Spartanburg has endured.

Call to Action

If you are a business owner, don’t wait until a breach disrupts your operations.

Talk with us at CHIPS about how AppGuard can help you move from detect and respond toward isolation and containment. We will help you see how you can prevent incidents like this from ever reaching your doorstep.

Reach out today—your data, your company’s reputation, and your peace of mind are worth it.

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