CHENANGO COUNTY – With election day looming, a cyber attack on Chenango County computers nearly two weeks ago is raising concerns over voting this year.

On October 18th, hackers took over 200 computers used by the county through encryption and demanded a 450 dollar ransom per computer.

In the wake of the attack, the county board of elections urged anyone who sent in an absentee ballot application through email since October 15th to call and verify that it had been received.

Chenango County’s Information Technology Director Herman Ericksen told NewsChannel 34 that there is no reason to believe this was an attack on the voting process, and that the election site is back up and running.

While making a stop in the county, Congressman Anthony Brindisi weighed in on the attack.

“Quite frankly, it’s very scary to think that one of our local boards of elections could be hacked into. We’re talking to the board of elections. We want to make sure that anyone who requested an absentee ballot is going to be able to get one. Initially, it looks like it’s not very wide spread, so that’s good news. But, it’s just more reason why we need to have election security in our country,” says Brindisi.

The computers affected were wiped out in order to remove the malware, with all the necessary software being re-downloaded.

Ericksen also confirmed that the county would not pay the ransom.