SC Broadband Email Service Will End on January 2, 2025
We want to inform you that SC Broadband will be discontinuing Email service and the Webmail portal website for customers on January 2, 2025. If you have an email account with SC Broadband, your email account with us will no longer accept new emails and the Webmail portal will cease to be available after that date.
We understand that email is a vital communication platform and we do not take this decision to end email service lightly. That's why we are providing ample notification to make this change less impactful. We've also sent notices and additional guidance to the affected email accounts to assist you during this transition period.
For step-by-step guides and answers to common questions, we've provided an Email User Transition Guide at emailguide.scbroadband.com. Our Technical Support Team is also available to help with backing up old emails and transitioning to your new account. Please call 435-263-0000 or email techsupport@scbroadband.com any time you need assistance.
QILIN ransomware group logo superimposed over Green River, WY—site of 2025 ransomware attack.
When QILINHackers Came to Green River
In June 2025, a ransomware attack attributed to the hacker group QILIN locked down core city services in Green River, Wyoming. Police lost access to their systems. Recreation centers went cash-only. Utility billing halted. City council livestreams went dark. And while the headlines moved on, the damage didn’t.
This is the new face of municipal cyber risk: quiet, expensive, operational chaos. The attack didn’t make national news. But it still cost Green River tens of thousands of dollars in just a few days and exposed the structural gaps that exist in almost every small city IT budget.
What follows is a breakdown of what happened, what it cost, and what your city needs to understand before it’s next.
Why Small Cities Remain Vulnerable
Green River isn’t an outlier. It’s a warning. National research confirms what every city manager already suspects: most local governments are one disruption away from chaos. The vulnerabilities are baked in: tight staffing, aging infrastructure, and the daily scramble to deliver basic services with shrinking resources.
No manual backup systems for billing or communication
No pre-negotiated response contracts
Incomplete multi-factor authentication
Weak or outdated data recovery protocols
These gaps don’t just make attacks more likely. They make recovery slower, more expensive, and politically explosive. Cities don’t lose money because they get hacked. They lose it because they weren’t ready.
One locked network. No ransom paid. Operational chaos followed.
Green River’s systems froze. Services halted. Costs piled up. Your city might not be targeted, but it’s still exposed.
Lost Productivity: Approximately $44,850 (Estimated from 60% of staff impacted for one week at average municipal wages.)
External IR/Forensics: Approximately $21,000 (60 hours estimated at industry-standard $350/hour.)
Manual Workarounds and Overtime: Approximately $2,800 (Extra administrative labor for manual billing, cash handling, and police reports.)
Lost or Delayed Revenue: Approximately $6,000 (Estimated 15% disruption in routine municipal payments.)
Emergency Tech Purchases & Temp Networking: Approximately $15,000 (Emergency equipment and network fixes.)
Total Estimated Operational Loss:$89,650
Note: This figure represents an informed estimate based on typical municipal ransomware costs. Actual figures specific to Green River have not been publicly reported.
Green River entered FY2025 with a projected $4.2 million deficit in its General Fund—the account that funds police, public works, administration, and more. With just $234,384 in unreserved cash on hand and over $10 million restricted or designated, the city had almost no financial room to respond to a crisis without cutting elsewhere.
The ransomware attack didn’t just strain systems, It strained an already tight budget.
Could Your City Handle an Unexpected $90,000 Hit?
Green River’s General Fund budget is $19.8 million. That sounds solid until you realize a single ransomware attack cost the city an estimated $89,000 in just a few days. That figure isn’t covered by insurance. It isn’t reimbursable through federal cybersecurity grants. And it doesn’t include long-term damage to trust or civic continuity.
For most municipalities operating under the $20 million threshold, that kind of unplanned loss lands directly in the operating core: police staffing, payroll, utility billing, public works. No warning. No offset. Just money gone and services paused.
Five Practical Steps Cities Should Take Immediately
Most businesses won’t get breached through brute force. They’ll get logged into. Right now, attackers are using real credentials from this leak to access systems quietly. You don’t need a refresh. You need to seal the doors while they’re still closed.
1. Run Quarterly Backup Restorations
Don’t just test backups—restore them. Validate full recovery under pressure.
2. Segment Networks by Department
Isolate police, utilities, and admin systems to prevent cascading failures.
Know who you’ll call and what it will cost before the breach.
4. Document Manual Fallbacks
Create written playbooks for cash handling, billing, and emergency response.
5. Conduct Attack Surface Assessments
Use free tools from CISA or MS-ISAC to find and patch vulnerabilities now.
A simple planning exercise used by municipal IT leaders: simulate a ransomware lockout in one department. Track every delayed task, missed payment, and hour lost to manual workarounds. Then project that disruption across a full week. It’s not a perfect model, but it’s a clear, immediate picture of your real-world exposure. And it’s exactly the kind of evidence your council needs to prioritize investment.
The Green River ransomware attack is a case study in vulnerabilities.
In the wake of the Green River ransomware attack, it’s clear that heightened security measures are needed. The impact of the Green River ransomware attack on rural operations highlights the need for better protection.
Green River didn’t need a data leak to feel the impact. Locked systems halted billing, froze police operations, and disrupted core city services—fast. The financial damage followed. This is the modern ransomware playbook: no stolen files, no headlines—just silence, scramble, and cost.
