SPARTANBURG, S.C. (WSPA) – Difficulties caused by last week’s ransomware attack continued at Spartanburg County offices Tuesday. Computer systems at the sheriff’s office, the county courthouse, and the Register of Deeds offices remain offline.
The Register of Deeds, which records and stores all property transaction records, cannot record documents or search archives, which is causing inconveniences for some involved in the home-buying process.
“It doesn’t affect you if you’ve bought a house and you’ve already closed,” Brian Hurry, a realtor at Coldwell Banker Caine said. “You’re good. You own the house.”
Hurry said the outage should not dissuade interested buyers from going after the homes of their dreams.
However, he said, the outage does impact part of the closing process: Title insurance companies cannot access records through the Register of Deeds office, and closing attorneys must physically deliver all necessary paperwork, which is entered on a ledger and stored until it can be entered into the computer system once it is restored.
Hurry said while there have been no delays in closings so far and that he has full confidence that the county will resolve the issues soon, there could be delays if the county’s services remain offline for a prolonged period of time.
The county said SLED and the FBI are investigating the hack of the county’s online infrastructure.
