Butler County Community College announced it has nearly completed restoration of its datacenter servers following a weekend ransomware attack that encrypted files within databases and servers used by students and employees on BC3’s main campus and its additional locations.

According to Matt Miller, BC3’s director of information technology, the sole purpose of the attack was to encrypt and disable file systems.

“No personal information of students, staff, faculty or administrators was compromised,” Miller said. “The intent of the attack was to encrypt files and make critical systems inoperable. The goal was to get us to pay ransom to get a decryption file to resume operations.”

A ransomware notice received by BC3’s information technology division on Sunday sought the equivalent of $147,000, Miller said. BC3 officials confirmed Thursday evening the college was able to work around the ransom demand to restore its systems.

Three of the college’s four prioritized systems are now operational.

A regional cybersecurity firm assisted BC3 in identifying and containing the attack, described as a new strain.

A final prioritized system that governs desktop files could be restored as early as next week, Miller said.