In early August 2025, Spartanburg County, South Carolina, experienced a ransomware attack that disrupted online services. This incident raises a pressing question for organizations everywhere: are traditional "detect and respond" cybersecurity models enough?
According to county communications manager Scottie Kay Blackwell, the attack “immediately triggered a response from the network software, cybersecurity vendor, and law enforcement.” Thanks to these efforts, the incident was contained quickly. As a precaution, the county disabled certain electronic connections and public-facing services while teams worked on recovery. Fortunately, critical operations such as emergency communications and 911 services remained functional throughout (wyff4.com).
While the county response contained the incident this time, it is not their first encounter with ransomware. A 2023 ransomware attack similarly forced shutdowns and recovery efforts. And back in 2018, the public library system lost public computers and Wi-Fi access when a staff member opened an infected email.
Just days after the August incident, officials revealed that a limited number of personnel onboarding files containing employee personal data were accessed during the breach. Although most of these records are already public, several contained sensitive personally identifiable information. In recognition of this risk, the county offered complimentary credit monitoring to all employees, whether impacted directly or not.
These repeated disruptions reflect a larger trend. Local governments and organizations are being increasingly targeted due to their limited resources and reliance on traditional cybersecurity strategies. An internal memo cited by FITSNews revealed mounting phishing attempts, frequent service outages, and growing frustrations with essential systems such as Munis (financial management) and OnBase (archival services).
While detection and incident response are vital, they are inherently reactive. By waiting until threats manifest, organizations give attackers precious time to infiltrate, pivot, and cause damage. This includes file encryption, data exfiltration, and disruption of mission-critical services.
Isolation-based protection, such as that offered by AppGuard, provides a different paradigm: containment. By isolating unknown or untrusted processes, AppGuard prevents malicious activity from reaching sensitive systems in the first place. No detection, no response. Just preemptive protection.
AppGuard has proven its effectiveness over a decade of real-world deployment, featuring:
Endpoint isolation that blocks suspicious behavior at the operating system level
Proven success in preventing ransomware, file-less attacks, and zero-day threats
A track record of securing environments for more than 10 years, now available for commercial use
In the case of Spartanburg County, an isolation-first approach could have stopped ransomware in its tracks, avoiding downtime, data access, and the need to disable services or offer employee credit monitoring.
Spartanburg County’s latest incident is a reminder that relying solely on detection and response leaves organizations exposed. The moment for a shift is now.
If you are serious about forward-thinking endpoint security, one that moves beyond reacting to threats and instead isolates and contains them proactively, you need to consider AppGuard.
Business owners: talk with us at CHIPS about how AppGuard can safeguard your environment. Let us show you how to keep your operations and your people secure. Do not wait for the next cyberattack to make you wish you had acted sooner.
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