Document Alexandercountync_20230127_CCDCA_UPDATE

1 Register of Deeds Update – Jan. 27, AM Register of Deeds Customers, The Alexander County Register of Deeds office remains up and operational through the week of Jan 23-27. We are operating in a normal mode at this time. Cott Systems is still up and operational in-house (in my office) and from external (Internet) connections, however the following disclaimer is on the Cott System if you try to search online records from the Internet: To search online records, just click the “Acknowledge” button and you will proceed as normal. I do not know what the legal consequences are for searching Cott Systems online with this disclaimer attached. Please consult legal counsel for ramifications. There is no notice of possible images not available on my internal connection to Cott in my office. Please feel free to come search for the records you require here in my office (mailing and physical address): Alexander County Services Center Register of Deeds office 151 W. Main Ave., Suite 9 Taylorsville, NC 28681 webpage: Our electronic recording with all 3rd party vendors that transmit documents for electronic recording in my office are working, to include Simplifile. Again, I apologize for your inconvenience and we are doing what we can to help our customers. Thanks to my awesome staff for continuing to provide stellar service during this nearly month-long event. This will be my last UPDATE concerning operations in my office unless the status quo changes. Very respectfully, Scott Scott H. Hines Alexander County Register of Deeds Ph (828) 632-3152 I Fx (828) 632-1119 previously posted Updates ---PAGE BREAK--- 2 Register of Deeds Update – Jan. 20, AM Dear AlexCo Register of Deeds Customers, We remain up and operational in the office. Cott Systems is still down for electronic searches of Alexander County Register of Deeds data via the Internet. While we understand this is not as convenient as it can be, we have access to all AlexCo RoD records here in the office. Please feel free to come search for the records you require here in my office at: Alexander County Services Center Register of Deeds office 151 W. Main Ave., Suite 9 Taylorsville, NC 28681 webpage: Also available on my county webpage are instructions for requesting records via mail. In addition, I provide a 3rd party online request by a company named Permitium and for a small fee you can request documents via that application. Our electronic recording with Simplifile is now up and working (see Jan 19 message from ICE Mortgage Tech Support) for firms and people who want to use electronic means for recording their documents. This function should be good for all of our 3rd party eRecording vendors now. Again, I apologize for your inconvenience and we are doing what we can to help our customers Very respectfully, Scott Scott H. Hines Alexander County Register of Deeds Ph (828) 632-3152 I Fx (828) 632-1119 From: Carlos Munoz <[EMAIL REDACTED]> Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2023 6:17 PM Subject: []RE: Alexander County, NC- COTT outage Hello Alexander County team, We were able to start pushing packages through again. Please let us know if you need further assistance with this. Warm regards, Carlos Muñoz Technical Support Analyst, ICE Mortgage Technology HQ: 5072 North 300 West I Provo, Utah 84604 ---PAGE BREAK--- 3 T: +1 [PHONE REDACTED] [EMAIL REDACTED] www.ice.com I www.icemortgagetechnology.com From: Customer Support Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2023 6:06 PM Subject: [EXTERNAL][MARKETING] Weekend Support Hours Weekend Support H ours Dear Valued Customer, Should you need assistance, this weekend Customer Support will be available on Saturday and Sunday 9:00 - 5:00 eastern. Thank you, Customer Support I Cott Systems Cott Systems, Inc. I 2800 Corporate Exchange Dr., Ste.300 I Columbus, OH 43231 o) [PHONE REDACTED] M-F 7am-6pm Eastern I f) [PHONE REDACTED] I e) Subscription Preferences Register of Deeds Update – Jan. 19, 8:30 AM Dear AlexCo Customers, Status quo is the same from yesterday’s accesses with regard to our recording and database systems. Users can access everything in my office, but not externally from outside our office. In my office, I have multiple public computers to use to search the AC RoD records and Plats, as well as other in office resources—index books, microfilm, computer discs, etc. Additionally, if you are one of our electronic recording partners who use Simplifile to send us electronic documents, you will not be able to use this service currently. Simplifile will not release your packages to the Cott System for us to access and process (see message below from Simplifile). You may want to look into another eRecording service if you need your documents recorded as soon as possible. We are receiving packages from CSC and likely ePN. See the link on my webpage under the tab “eRecording” – Again, please accept my apology for inconveniences and we are doing what we can to help our customers Very respectfully, Scott Scott H. Hines ---PAGE BREAK--- 4 Alexander County Register of Deeds Ph (828) 632-3152 I Fx (828) 632-1119 From: Customer Support Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2023 6:45 PM Subject: Update on Cott Hosted Services pdate on Cott H osted Ser vices Customer Update – January 18, 2023 Dear Valued Customer: As everyone worked hard to complete the past three weeks of work, we did notice slowness and temporary connection issues mid-day today. This was a result of simultaneous high demand. We made a few changes and will see how those changes improve your system’s performance tomorrow. We will continue to make enhancements through the upcoming weeks as all applications and services are brought back on line. Please look for future communications coming from Customer Support. It has been an emotional few weeks! Thank you again for your understanding and for your continued business. Wishing everyone a healthy 2023. Deborah Ball, CEO Cott Systems, Inc. I 2800 Corporate Exchange Dr., Ste.300 I Columbus, OH 43231 o) [PHONE REDACTED] M-F 7am-6pm Eastern I f) [PHONE REDACTED] Subscription Preferences From: Carlos Munoz <[EMAIL REDACTED]> Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2023 5:04 PM Subject: []Alexander County, NC- COTT outage Hello Alexander team, Thank you for contacting Simplifile County Support. You called to see if we could start to push packages through again for your county. I checked with our queue team and it ---PAGE BREAK--- 5 looks like we have all packages on hold still. Before we can open our Cott queues, the ICE AppSec team needs to talk with the vendor and get a report on what they did to get their files cleaned from their cyber attack. Until we hear back from them, all package for Cott counties must remain as they are. Warm regards, Carlos Muñoz Technical Support Analyst, ICE Mortgage Technology HQ: 5072 North 300 West I Provo, Utah 84604 T: +1 [PHONE REDACTED] [EMAIL REDACTED] www.ice.com I www.icemortgagetechnology.com Register of Deeds Update – Jan. 18, AM Dear Alexander RoD Customers, Alexander Register of Deeds is back up for in-office business that uses the Cott Systems (system searches, system recording, etc.). Cott allowed us access into our data and access to Cott Systems around 11:00 am yesterday, Jan 17. No longer do we use the “pen and paper” old-school way of doing business in the office. In the office, we have access to Resolution3 (for recording instruments) and eSearch (searching records). Cott informed us that all our data is safe and not corrupted. However, there is still no external access online (internet searches) from outside our office. We have entered all the backed up original documents—our customers can now pick up their original, now recorded, documents. We are still not receiving eRecording packages, which have now become a priority. Please accept my humble apology for the last few weeks of trouble doing business in the Register of Deeds office. Circumstances were beyond our control and we tried to accommodate people as much as possible. Thanks be to my staff—Josh, Dawn, and Jon—for stepping up to the plate and working admirably under adverse conditions. Very respectfully, Scott Scott H. Hines Alexander County Register of Deeds Ph (828) 632-3152 I Fx (828) 632-1119 From: Customer Support Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2023 5:54 PM Subject: Update on Cott Hosted Services Update on Cott H osted Ser vices ---PAGE BREAK--- 6 Customer Update – January 17, 2023 Dear Valued Customer: I am happy to inform you that all Cott hosted users have been enabled. We are definitely not done activating all of our services, but knowing that all offices are now on-line is a relief! Each supporting service and integration is now being examined and will be re- established throughout the week. External eSearch is a priority. Please look for upcoming emails as these additional applications and services go live. Thank you for working with us and welcome back! Deborah Ball, CEO Cott Systems, Inc. I 2800 Corporate Exchange Dr., Ste.300 I Columbus, OH 43231 o) [PHONE REDACTED] M-F 7am-6pm Eastern I f) [PHONE REDACTED] Subscription Preferences From: Customer Support Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2023 10:26 AM Subject: System Availability System Avail ability Dear Valued Customer, This message is to notify you that your system has been cleared to begin processing documents. Initial validation has completed on your system, and the following applications will now be available for use by you and your staff: 1. Resolution3 2. eRecording ---PAGE BREAK--- 7 3. Internal eSearch If you do not start receiving eRecordings, please contact the eRecording vendors with which you are working to inform them that you are able to receive documents from them. If the vendor confirms transmission, please contact Cott Support so we can assist you further. Integrations with other applications or entities are not yet fully operational. Please note that some images that were saved before today are not yet available. You will, however, be able to view all new images saved from today forward immediately. We will be sure to update you as more functionality becomes available. Please contact Cott Customer Support if you need further assistance. Thank you, Customer Support I Cott Systems Cott Systems, Inc. I 2800 Corporate Exchange Dr., Ste.300 I Columbus, OH 43231 o) [PHONE REDACTED] M-F 7am-6pm Eastern I f) [PHONE REDACTED] I e) Subscription Preferences From: Customer Support Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2023 6:58 PM Subject: Update on Cott Hosted Services Update on Cott H osted Ser vices Customer Update – January 15, 2023 Dear Valued Customer: Cott will have customers back on-line with basic functionality over the next few days. Rather than wait for all customers and all services to be functional before we “go-live” we will be notifying each of you individually as your service becomes available. We will send a notice directly to the customers who have been cleared to begin processing starting later today and on an ongoing basis. The notices will go to the same recipients who have been receiving these communications. Customer Support will be available on Monday if you have questions once your service is active. Thank you for working with us! Deborah Ball, CEO ---PAGE BREAK--- 8 Cott Systems, Inc. I 2800 Corporate Exchange Dr., Ste.300 I Columbus, OH 43231 o) [PHONE REDACTED] M-F 7am-6pm Eastern I f) [PHONE REDACTED] Subscription Preferences From: Customer Support Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2023 6:14 PM Subject: Update on Cott Hosted Services Update on Cott H osted Ser vices Customer Update – January 14, 2023 Dear Valued Customer: Today the team continues methodically validating each of our file servers that contain the system images. Once a server is validated, it is connected to our applications where testers will run the application(s) to ensure that all is working normally. These are the steps that must be completed for each customer prior to going live. Cott intends to have all customers back on-line next week. Because file servers are being cleared and applications tested one at a time, we will bring customers on-line as the process is completed versus everyone at once. Once the team works through the night and the day tomorrow, I will know more details regarding an actual “go-live” schedule to share with you tomorrow. At least we know now that the final steps are being taken! I’m sure you will agree that it has been a difficult week of waiting! Thank you for your patience. Deborah Ball, CEO Cott Systems, Inc. I 2800 Corporate Exchange Dr., Ste.300 I Columbus, OH 43231 o) [PHONE REDACTED] M-F 7am-6pm Eastern I f) [PHONE REDACTED] Subscription Preferences From: Customer Support Sent: Friday, January 13, 2023 6:03 PM Subject: Update on Cott Hosted Services Update on Cott H osted Ser vices ---PAGE BREAK--- 9 Customer Update – January 13, 2023 Dear Valued Customer: We continue to make progress. The staff will be working all weekend with our third-party specialists. I have been assured that they are moving through our millions of files containing data and images as quickly as possible. I will update you when I have more details to share. I wish you a pleasant weekend and am very sorry this is taking so long. Deborah Ball, CEO Cott Systems, Inc. I 2800 Corporate Exchange Dr., Ste.300 I Columbus, OH 43231 o) [PHONE REDACTED] M-F 7am-6pm Eastern I f) [PHONE REDACTED] Subscription Preferences From: Ryan Hassmann Sent: Friday, January 13, 2023 10:20 AM Subject: []Cott Systems - Check In Good Morning! This is Ryan Hassmann with Cott Systems. I reached out a couple months ago letting you know we are in the process of interviewing for the sales rep position for your territory and that you can reach out to me with any questions/concerns in the meantime. I know our CEO has provided updates throughout the last 2.5 weeks that our system has been down, but I wanted to send a quick note as well. First off, I want to thank you for your patience throughout this trying time. This has not been an ideal situation for anyone involved. We understand this puts you in a bad spot with your residents, but believe me when I say we are doing every possible thing we can to get back up and running. We are starting to finally see some light at the end of the tunnel. We don’t have a firm timeline just yet, but we are working 24/7 to get you back to your normal operations as quickly and as securely as possible. Our main priority has been and will always be the preservation of your data. Any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to reach out. Thanks, and talk soon! Ryan Hassmann I Account Services Coordinator Cott Systems, Inc. I 2800 Corporate Exchange Dr., Ste.300 I Columbus, OH 43231 ---PAGE BREAK--- 10 o) (614) 985-0054 e) I web) From: Customer Support Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2023 6:06 PM Subject: Update on Cott Hosted Services Update on Cott H osted Ser vices Customer Update – January 12, 2023 Dear Valued Customer: We made good progress today! Finally, with the additional infrastructure equipment integrated, we have about 70 percent of our virtual servers fully functioning. I know you are seeking a timeframe for when your office will be fully functional - as am I! I have not been given the exact day, but based on today’s progress, I am hopeful it is soon! Tomorrow, our business partners and agencies with whom we integrate will receive a statement. Click here [see letter attached below this message] to view the copy of the information they will be receiving. It will be going to them via email. You may also find it informative as it is a compilation of our previous communications. To clarify the email you received earlier containing the media statement: The statement is only meant to provide assistance should you need it. THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE FROM COTT. Finally, you will see that we put a short statement on our website indicating that we are experiencing technical difficulties. I am sorry this is taking so long and thank you for your understanding. Deborah Ball, CEO Cott Systems, Inc. I 2800 Corporate Exchange Dr., Ste.300 I Columbus, OH 43231 o) [PHONE REDACTED] M-F 7am-6pm Eastern I f) [PHONE REDACTED] Subscription Preferences Statement on Cott’s website: ---PAGE BREAK--- 11 ---PAGE BREAK--- 12 ---PAGE BREAK--- 13 From: Customer Support Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2023 1:48 PM Subject: Media Statement from Cott Systems Medi a Statement from C ott Systems Media Statement – January 12, 2023 Dear Valued Customer: As discussed in yesterday's update, we have prepared a statement that you may want to use if you are contacted for a statement by the local media. That statement is listed below: "On December 26, 2022, Cott Systems, Inc. (“Cott”), our land records management (case management) provider, began experiencing technical difficulties which were determined to be the result of a cyber incident. We have been assured that all efforts are being made to confirm our data is secure prior to resuming services. With the assistance of third-party cyber forensic specialists, efforts to resume operations will continue 24/7 until County/Parish/Town is fully functional. Cott Systems understands that this is a critical situation and has assured us that the ongoing efforts are necessary to protect our data to the fullest extent possible. We will provide further updates as they are available. Thank you all for your patience and understanding." Thank you, Deborah Ball, CEO Cott Systems, Inc. I 2800 Corporate Exchange Dr., Ste.300 I Columbus, OH 43231 o) [PHONE REDACTED] M-F 7am-6pm Eastern I f) [PHONE REDACTED] Subscription Preferences From: Customer Support Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2023 6:17 PM Subject: Update on Cott Hosted Services Update on Cott H osted Ser vices Customer Update – January 11, 2023 ---PAGE BREAK--- 14 Dear Valued Customer: We did receive our large order from Dell. It has been installed and is integrating into our infrastructure. This finally gives us the room we need to copy all files, repair and reconnect virtual machines, and then test to make sure all functionality has been completely restored. Fortunately, I can confirm that our storage area network (SAN) is in good shape. The plan for Thursday is more of the same: integrating additional space, copying what we have, working to restore full functionality while analyzing and validating every step of the way. Every minute counts and 24 x 7 will remain in force until your offices are up and running. We ARE making progress. We will be contacting state agencies with whom you may connect to share an official message of our situation. You will receive a copy. We will also provide you with a statement you may want to use if you are contacted for a statement by local media. Finally, you will see a short statement about the incident on our website. I am sorry this is taking so long and thank you for your understanding. Deborah Ball, CEO Cott Systems, Inc. I 2800 Corporate Exchange Dr., Ste.300 I Columbus, OH 43231 o) [PHONE REDACTED] M-F 7am-6pm Eastern I f) [PHONE REDACTED] Subscription Preferences Alexander County Register of Deeds comment (Jan 11, 9 AM): Cott Systems is still down and as we predicted will possibly be up by tomorrow, Jan 12, but we are not counting on it. See Ms. Ball’s message below from yesterday evening as to their status as of Jan 10 in the PM. We continue to provide hardcopy, “pen and paper” recording in the office with indexes and daybook prooflists for researchers and paralegals to conduct update checks. Because Cott continues to be offline, we still are unable to access our hosted servers at Cott or conduct electronic recording of instruments. I have inquired with Cott as to why Cott cannot provide my office access (either remote or hardcopy access) to Alexander County’s Register of Deeds data. I have not received a response to my inquiry as of this morning. Cott states in the contract addendum with Alexander County that “backup strategies storing multiple copies of [Alexander County]’s data on varied technology solutions at different locations.” Verbiage states this in section 11. Security and Data Protection, part page 10 of the contract addendum between our organizations. If Alexander County data is stored in multiple copies at different locations, why can we not have access to at least one of those multiple copies? Why are there multiple copies in different locations if not for a contingency as this? I have asked these questions of Cott, with no response as of this time. Once again, we expect Cott back online, and thus our functionality, possibly Thursday, Jan 12, but no guarantees. My office will continue to provide the best service possible under these abnormal circumstances. ---PAGE BREAK--- 15 V/r, Scott H. Hines Alexander County Register of Deeds Ph (828) 632-3152 I Fx (828) 632-1119 From: Customer Support Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2023 6:13 PM Subject: Update on Cott Hosted Services Update on Cott H osted Ser vices Customer Update – January 10, 2023 Dear Valued Customer: At the end of the day today, we received additional hardware resources to assist in the validation of servers and data. Over the coming days we expect additional infrastructure resources which will accelerate our efforts toward getting you working as quickly as possible. Internally, working with our cyber recovery team, we have implemented an additional endpoint detection and response solution which protects all of our hosted and HQ infrastructure. This solution aided in the containment and removal of suspicious files and malware resulting from this cyber-attack. The endpoint detection actively scans and monitors our entire infrastructure. This will remain in force indefinitely. Externally, we have recommended that all customers change the access password given to Cott. In addition to creating new ones, implementing a multi-factor authentication password, and only enabling the access for Cott staff when you need assistance, are ways to protect your network. These are some of the steps that allow us to work together and to be as secure as we can in our partnership. As I mentioned yesterday, the work this week will consist of: integrating additional space, copying what we have, working to restore full functionality while analyzing and validating every step of the way. Being diligent requires patience which I have personally run out of! I am sure you have too. I can only hope to bring you better news with each passing day. Thank you for your understanding. I will keep you updated throughout the week. Deborah Ball, CEO Cott Systems, Inc. I 2800 Corporate Exchange Dr., Ste.300 I Columbus, OH 43231 o) [PHONE REDACTED] M-F 7am-6pm Eastern I f) [PHONE REDACTED] Subscription Preferences ---PAGE BREAK--- 16 From: Customer Support Sent: Monday, January 9, 2023 6:17 PM Subject: Update on Cott Hosted Services Update on Cott H osted Ser vices Customer Update – January 9, 2023 Dear Valued Customer: Last night and today our team of specialists have continued to carefully bring our systems out of “protection mode.” I support our very conservative approach of copying all data and images prior to completing their examination and validation. While this approach requires space and time, it is the safest way to operate. As I have mentioned previously, we are working with cyber specialists every step of the way and are taking no risks with your data. The team is working in shifts, 24 x 7, to bring your offices back on-line as soon as possible. Nothing is more important. The work this week will consist of: integrating additional space, copying what we have, working to restore full functionality while analyzing and validating all slices of data. Regardless of our conservative approach, we recognize the critical situation we are all in and work with the utmost sense of urgency. Thank you for your understanding. I will keep you updated throughout the week. Deborah Ball, CEO Cott Systems, Inc. I 2800 Corporate Exchange Dr., Ste.300 I Columbus, OH 43231 o) [PHONE REDACTED] M-F 7am-6pm Eastern I f) [PHONE REDACTED] Subscription Preferences Alexander County Register of Deeds comment (Jan 9, 8 AM): Cott Systems is still down and it looks like most of the week at that (see Cott message, Jan We are unable to access our hosted servers at Cott because of this and will have limited recording capability until Cott gets back up. We will continue “pen and paper” recording until our capability is returned by Cott Systems. Clients and customers should know that Cott is looking to bring back functionality around Thursday, Jan 12. My office will continue to provide the best service possible under these less than optimal circumstances. V/r, ---PAGE BREAK--- 17 Scott H. Hines Alexander County Register of Deeds Ph (828) 632-3152 I Fx (828) 632-1119 Customer Update – January 8, 2023 Dear Valued Customer: Our IT team and technical cyber specialists worked over the weekend to try to bring our systems back to full functionality. However, recovering from the cyber-attack is still dominating our systems. The cyber recovery phase requires several steps. To complete those steps, we continue to need much more space than we normally use for operations. With the worldwide hardware shortage, even emergency orders are taking too long. Over the weekend we had: one promised order never appeared, one order was found to be not compatible (though the dealer had insisted it would be), one small order finally arrived today that has allowed us to begin to work on some of the necessary basic functions. On Tuesday, January 10, we expect a substantial shipment to arrive. Once it arrives, we estimate that we will need 24-48 hours to work with our technical experts to bring the system up then verify and validate all data. I am disappointed that this process is so Last week, we hurried to give all customers the option of working again. I was very encouraged! However, the combination of everyone going on- line at once, along with our cyber recovery steps continuing to run, overloaded our system and it went into “protection mode.” We cannot let that happen again. As we become fully functional, we will methodically bring customers back on line. Unfortunately, we must take this day-by-day and the timeline cannot be established yet tonight. We will continue to inform you as soon as we know more so that you may plan your week. I wanted to be able to provide you with better news tonight. I am so sorry we are all dealing with this terrible situation. Deborah Ball, CEO Cott Systems, Inc. I 2800 Corporate Exchange Dr., Ste.300 I Columbus, OH 43231 o) [PHONE REDACTED] M-F 7am-6pm Eastern I f) [PHONE REDACTED] From: Customer Support Sent: Thursday, January 5, 2023 1:06 PM Subject: Important Customer Notice Important Customer N otice ---PAGE BREAK--- 18 January 5, 2023 Important Customer Notice To all customers with Hosted services, Cott’s infrastructure at the hosted center has gone into “protective mode” to preserve data. We have reached storage capacity. This unplanned use of storage space is a result of our ongoing forensic procedures and investigation. On-line hosted customer operations are on hold until the additional storage we have already ordered arrives and is installed. It is expected yet this week. THIS OUTAGE IS NOT CAUSED DIRECTLY BY THE CYBER ATTACK. It is an automatic data protection program that activates once our servers begin to reach capacity. Unfortunately, it appears that we will be “locked down” in this protective mode tomorrow as well while we obtain and install our additional storage. You will be updated again as soon as this status has changed. While I am glad the data protection program exists, I am disappointed and sorry to postpone your efforts to get back to business. Deborah Ball, CEO Cott Systems, Inc. I 2800 Corporate Exchange Dr., Ste.300 I Columbus, OH 43231 o) [PHONE REDACTED] M-F 7am-6pm Eastern I f) [PHONE REDACTED] Subscription Preferences From: Customer Support Sent: Thursday, January 5, 2023 8:47 AM Subject: Hosted Services Issues Hosted Service Issues Hello Valued Customer, This morning you may be having issues where you are not able to log into your hosted applications. We are aware of this issue and are working to quickly resolve this. At this time we do not have an ETA on when this issue will be resolved. As soon as we have additional information we will send another notification. ---PAGE BREAK--- 19 We apologize for the inconvenience this is causing your office and hope to have this situation rectified soon. Should you have any questions please email or call us at 1-[PHONE REDACTED]. Thank you, Customer Support I Cott Systems Cott Systems, Inc. I 2800 Corporate Exchange Dr., Ste.300 I Columbus, OH 43231 o) [PHONE REDACTED] M-F 7am-6pm Eastern I f) [PHONE REDACTED] I e) Subscription Preferences From: Customer Support Sent: Wednesday, January 4, 2023 6:18 PM Subject: Update on Cott Hosted Services Customer Update – January 4, 2023 Dear Valued Customer: We hope that many of our Hosted customers were able to work today. I know that there is catch-up and clean-up still to be done, but we are headed in the right direction. One area that I do want to mention is Cott Log-In credentials to your office. These are credentials that have been given to Cott Systems to be able to access your system and provide support services. We ask that you have your IT reset these credentials as soon as possible in order to ensure a clean start. As you know, our investigation and response to this incident are ongoing. We will continue to provide regular updates to you as relevant information becomes available. Below are some of the frequently asked questions and responses to help you understand the incident, what you can do, and our response.  I am a customer of Cott Systems. What should I do in response to this incident? Are you investigating our network? o We are actively investigating the suspicious activity on the systems located in Cott Systems headquarters and in our data center. We are not actively investigating our customers’ networks. To that end, should you deem it appropriate, you may wish to contact your insurance carrier (if applicable) to discuss the potential investigation and assessment of your own organization’s systems. We also ask that you reset any credentials that have been issued to Cott Systems by your organization.  When will full operations be restored? o Our team is working around the clock to restore operations and services. We have also brought in third-party forensic and remediation specialists to assist our team. Although we do not currently have an exact timeframe for full ---PAGE BREAK--- 20 restoration, we have made substantial progress in restoring our systems and any hosted customers should be working at this time. We will provide updates as more information becomes available.  How do you suspect it got into your system? Has the source been identified? o We are working to confirm the entry vector, if possible, as part of our active, comprehensive investigation into the nature and scope of the event.  What policies or contingencies were in place to deal with something like this? o The confidentiality, privacy, and security of information in our care is among our highest priorities. We have procedures in place to address events such as this, and we are following these established protocols.  What is the timeline of when you will have your investigation done? o Our ongoing investigation is active and being performed diligently so that we can understand the nature and scope of the event as quickly as possible.  Who are you working with to conduct the investigation? o We are working with forensic and remediation specialists to address this incident as quickly as possible. We have also notified law enforcement of this incident. Deborah Ball, CEO Cott Systems, Inc. I 2800 Corporate Exchange Dr., Ste.300 I Columbus, OH 43231 o) [PHONE REDACTED] M-F 7am-6pm Eastern I f) [PHONE REDACTED] Subscription Preferences Alexander County Register of Deeds comment (Jan 4, 10AM): Dear Interested Party, I am happy to report we now have access to our vendor, Cott Systems, and their hosted server services. This means we are able to use our contracted services to record real property instruments and other recordings in this office. Please feel free to read the thread of updates (below) from the company’s CEO, Deborah Ball, for details about how Cott systemically worked through this cyber-attack to bring their many applications and databases back to operational status. Ours was a countywide, maybe regional, impact, while Cott endured a national impact for all their services of which my office only uses a few. If you have any questions or concerns about anything to do with my office please feel free to contact me either by phone or email as listed below. I am sorry for the inconvenience of this unfortunate situation and thank my staff for their diligence and hard work, during the holiday season, in getting through this unprecedented event for my office. For Alexander County and beyond, I am in your service, Scott H. Hines Alexander County Register of Deeds Ph (828) 632-3152 I Fx (828) 632-1119 ---PAGE BREAK--- 21 From: Customer Support Sent: Tuesday, January 3, 2023 6:05 PM Subject: Update on Cott Hosted Services Update on Cott H osted Ser vices Customer Update – January 3, 2023 Dear Valued Customer, We have completed the validation of: Resolution3, eSearch, RecordRoom, RECORDhub, both of our case management applications, Criminal and Civil, plus eRecording. These applications will be available for you to use tomorrow, January 4th. We are still validating and testing additional Cott applications including integrations with other systems, such as eFiling. Eighty-seven percent of all images have been validated and are available to search. The remaining 13% will be validated as quickly as possible. If a search receives a message that says “Image not available”, please note that the image has not yet been validated. While our back-up system is functioning, it is not yet collecting and copying new information. Once you begin recording tomorrow, your system copy will be the only copy available until the back-up copying procedures are working as normal. All of the new data you will be inputting starting tomorrow will be backed-up once we have it running properly again. You will be receiving additional instructions tonight to help you get started tomorrow. Thank you for working through this challenging situation with us! Deborah Ball, CEO Cott Systems, Inc. I 2800 Corporate Exchange Dr., Ste.300 I Columbus, OH 43231 o) [PHONE REDACTED] M-F 7am-6pm Eastern I f) [PHONE REDACTED] Subscription Preferences Customer Update – January 2, 2023 Dear Valued Customer, During the past 24 hours, we have confirmed that all databases are complete and in good order. We ---PAGE BREAK--- 22 continue to run maintenance checks to verify all back-up systems are working as intended. As of this moment, we have 93% of the infrastructure fixed and running and we are working with Citrix to check connectivity. I was hopeful that our applications would be back online for you Tuesday. I am sorry but that will not yet be possible. We are still testing basic functionality and will move to more detailed testing later this evening to make sure the programs are working as intended. I am so encouraged that no data was lost or damaged. Our teams are working as fast as possible to verify the applications are working properly. While I still do not have an absolute timeline, I am hoping Wednesday they will have made enough progress to put you back in business. Please accept my apologies and appreciation for your understanding. Deborah Ball, CEO Cott Systems, Inc. I 2800 Corporate Exchange Dr., Ste.300 I Columbus, OH 43231 o) [PHONE REDACTED] M-F 7am-6pm Eastern I f) [PHONE REDACTED] Customer Update – January 1, 2023 Dear Valued Customer, I am thankful it is a new year and we will soon be able to put the Christmas cyber invasion behind us! I know you are too. Today as we continue to systematically work through the forensic and remediation steps with our cyber security team, our findings and results are very positive. The teams have worked through validating more than 1/2 of our systems. Those are all functioning normally. In addition, we are systematically validating hundreds of millions of images. As our IT team works through the process, we are learning how long the validation phase is taking and how varied it can be depending on what is found. I am hopeful that we will be able to restore at least partial functionality to your office very soon. Tomorrow we will be busy testing to make sure our validated systems are “talking” to each other and functioning properly. In tomorrow’s communication, we will let you know what, if any, software will be available on Tuesday. I wish you a year of good health and good fortune in 2023. Deborah Ball, CEO Cott Systems, Inc. I 2800 Corporate Exchange Dr., Ste.300 I Columbus, OH 43231 o) [PHONE REDACTED] M-F 7am-6pm Eastern I f) [PHONE REDACTED] ---PAGE BREAK--- 23 Customer Update – December 31, 2022 Dear Valued Customer, Today we continue to systematically work through the forensic and remediation steps with our experienced cyber security team. They are working hand-in-hand with Cott IT staff to examine and validate data and systems. We have prioritized our offsite data center, and at this point, there is no evidence that customer data was taken from our hosted environment. Many of you have inquired whether your backups still exist. At this time, we see that they are all there and we are carefully working to examine them. With our cyber security team, we are progressing through the validation of all systems and data held at Cott and our offsite data center. This activity will continue through the weekend. Each day we come closer to restoring your operation. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts. We are all aware of how valuable this information is: it must be complete; it must be accurate. Validation will take time, and I will keep you updated. I sincerely appreciate your patience and understanding while we proceed as fast as we can. Deborah Ball, CEO Cott Systems, Inc. I 2800 Corporate Exchange Dr., Ste.300 I Columbus, OH 43231 o) [PHONE REDACTED] M-F 7am-6pm Eastern I f) [PHONE REDACTED] Customer Update – December 30, 2022 Dear Valued Customer, We continue working around the clock with third-party forensic and remediation specialists to help us restore operations as quickly as possible. As of today, I can confirm that we are making good progress and I am encouraged. As previously mentioned, there are many people and steps involved. The steps we have completed with our specialists so far are going well and proving effective. Everyone involved will continue working through the holiday weekend. You will also continue to receive updates each day. Please be assured that as soon as I am able to confirm a timeline for resolution, I will do so. Please remember that we are unable to send or receive emails so please call Customer Support if you wish to reach us. ---PAGE BREAK--- 24 I am truly so sorry for what has happened. I deeply appreciate your patience and understanding while we work through this critical situation. Deborah Ball, CEO Cott Systems, Inc. I 2800 Corporate Exchange Dr., Ste.300 I Columbus, OH 43231 o) [PHONE REDACTED] M-F 7am-6pm Eastern I f) [PHONE REDACTED] From: Hines, Scott Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2022 6:43 PM Subject: FW: [EXTERNAL][MARKETING] Update on Cott Hosted Services ////Update//// Alexander County Register of Deeds Office, as well as 22 other counties in NC, uses Cott Systems, Inc. for recording real estate transactions in both hardcopy and electronic forms. Cott Systems has experienced what they call a “cyber-attack” and have disconnected Cott Systems databases and servers from the internet, thus we are disconnected from our contracted recording partner. We are unable to use the recording system at this time, but have employed a pen and paper method of tracking hardcopy instruments coming into my office for registration. We continue to accept documents either in person or via postal means such as USPS, FEDEX, etc. Once presented, we date/Time stamp documents as we receive them. We are keeping a “Daybook” of the documents for lawyers and researchers to peruse for title search and document examination at this time. Technically, I believe, these are considered public record as long as they have been accepted and logged in my office. We notate Grantor/Grantee information, document type, book and page reference as with our last Cott recorded document on Thursday, December 22. I am not sure of the legal consequences of using these documents in transaction matters—that is up to legal experts. We are unable to process electronic documents until Cott Systems is brought back online. We are still receiving 3rd party notifications from companies that send electronic packages/documents to us for processing (Simplifile, CSC, ePN, etc), so we know companies are still sending in electronic recordings, but we cannot process them. We have been contacting these companies as we receive email notifications of their activity to tell them of our particular situation and that they may not get their documents recorded as quickly as they may be expecting. Also, my office also uses Cott Systems to track our financial matters with regard to register of deeds business. I have implemented a receipt book for tracking the monies coming into my office. My office remains open for public use and vital records matters, while impacted, are continuing. Vital record processes include issuing certified copies of birth, death, and marriage certificates, issuing marriage licenses, processing military records, processing birth and death certificates, etc. The communique from Cott explains that they are making progress, but as of yet have no expected time of resolution for becoming operational again. ---PAGE BREAK--- 25 Scott H. Hines Alexander County Register of Deeds Ph (828) 632-3152 I Fx (828) 632-1119 From: Customer Support Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2022 3:38 PM To all valued Cott customers, We have an update on the status of our Hosted Services. We are working with two outside cyber security firms to continue to investigate how potentially malicious files got to our infrastructure Christmas Day/night and we continue to work on fully containing them. We were told by the cyber security experts that this particular Christmas Day incident happened to many companies on Sunday. As we continue to investigate, the required steps make it necessary to keep our systems isolated. We acknowledge that you will not be able to work and understand the impact that this has on your office. We are experiencing the same impact. While we cannot yet provide a timeline for resolution, please know that we are pressing the cyber experts to move as quickly as possible. We will continue to communicate through these updates as more information becomes available. We will alert you immediately when our services are available. At the end of each day, we will give you a status report and let you know if our services will be available the next day. Thank you, Customer Support I Cott Systems Cott Systems, Inc. I 2800 Corporate Exchange Dr., Ste.300 I Columbus, OH 43231 o) [PHONE REDACTED] M-F 7am-6pm Eastern I f) [PHONE REDACTED] I e)