Tourism Council plagued by ransomware

Those who have looked at the Block Island Tourism Council’s website lately may have noticed something odd – slightly dated content and inaccurate business listings. Those trying to reach the office of council Director Jessica Willi by email also have encountered difficulties. That’s because the company that hosts the website was a victim of a ransomware attack.
“The site’s been locked down since New Year’s Eve,” Willi revealed at the council’s meeting on January 24. As for emails, those received an automatic bounceback message for the first two weeks, but the system is functioning now
according to Willi.
(First Warden
Keith Stover revealed last week after a closed session of the Town Council that the town had experienced some trouble “months ago.” “There was an attempt to get into the town’s computer system,” said Stover. “It didn’t constitute a breach.”)
Willi said the hosting company, CC Inspire, was working to correct the problem and that a 2019 version of the Tourism Council’s website had been uploaded, thus the 2019 travel planner. She has also been getting numerous calls about incorrect business listings and telephone numbers. The Glass Float Project link where people can register their found orbs has also been affected. Of the interruption, Willi said, “It’s a bummer.”
The Tourism Council will be migrating its website over to another platform, however, not in reaction to the incident but at the request of the state. Willi said the state’s tourism council, and three of the five regional tourism councils are using Simple View, a company that specializes in travel, or “destination branding.”
“I love this company,” said Willi. “There’s nothing bad to say about them.”
She did however add that they were kind of like “driving a Ferrari on a Block Island dirt road.” They also will cost the Tourism Council a lot more money in annual fees.
There is grant money from the state that may help, although Willi said the timing was such that they would need to expend their own money and hope their grant application was accepted. If the money comes in later, it probably could
be applied to the annual fees.
Implementation of a new website…