VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Nearly a month ago, malware infected the Hampton Roads Sanitation Department's business systems.

"We pride ourselves on a sophisticated information technology department," said HRSD General Manager Tim Henefin. "We're as prepared as anyone for an attack like this, but bad guys are always getting one step ahead of the best tech you can have in place." 

The search for said bad guys remains ongoing, with the company still awaiting the results of an investigation. 

While they wait, however, they begin the task of catching back up on a month's worth of payments and bills with no system. Those bad guys infiltrated their system with malware, causing HRSD to shut down before the malware could reproduce throughout their network. 

This led to two primary issues. 

Payments are handled through a third-party vendor, so while the system was down, bills could still be paid. Those payments simply remained with the vendor while HRSD rebuilt their system.