Add Cobb County to the list of computer hacking victims.
An email sent Friday afternoon about the county’s ongoing US 41/I-75 transportation study contained a link referring recipients to a county transportation website. But the link led instead to a porn site.
The message was sent by an employee of Croy Engineering, the lead contractor on Alternative Analysis transportation study, with project information from Cobb’s transportation director Faye DiMassimo. The message was sent to more than 150 members of the AA work group and elected officials, including Cobb’s 19-member state delegation, the county’s six mayors, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, state transportation planning director Todd Long, and officials at the Atlanta Regional Commission, Kennesaw State University and area community improvement districts.
The hacked link is included at the end of the message in a sentence asking recipients to review the AA results and materials on the county’s transportation site.
After reviewing the message, the email or the computer where the message was composed probably had a worm in it, said county spokesman Robert Quigley.
“So when someone would paste the link in an email, it would appear as what you wanted it to be, but the link would take you someplace else,” he said, noting that this type of problem is common.
The county was not aware of the error until notified by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Tuesday, and had no idea how the error might have happened.
Croy Engineering was scheduled to send out an apology email with the correct link Tuesday night.
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