Cyber criminals took a second swing at Mecklenburg County government on Thursday after officials rejected a demand for money Attack.Ransom following a ransomware attack Attack.Ransom . The follow-up attempts to hold the county hostage over illegally encrypted data came just hours after County Manager Dena Diorio announced she ’ d decided against paying Attack.Ransom a hacker ransom Attack.Ransom . Instead of agreeing to pay Attack.Ransom criminals , she said Wednesday , the county will rebuild its system applications and restore files and data from backups . But by Thursday afternoon , hackers tried to strike again . Diorio sent staff members an email saying , “ I have a new warning for employees. ” As the county ’ s IT staff worked to recover from the first cyberattack , Diorio said , they discovered more attempts to compromise Attack.Databreach computers and data on Thursday . “ To limit the possibility of a new infection , ITS is disabling employees ’ ability to open attachments generated by DropBox and Google Documents , ” she wrote in an email . “ The best advice for now is to limit your use of emails containing attachments , and try to conduct as much business as possible by phone or in person. ” She described the aftermath of the ransomware attack Attack.Ransom as a “ crisis ” and reassured employees they should not feel personally responsible for the incident . The county first learned of the problem earlier this week after an employee opened Attack.Phishing a malicious “ phishing ” email and accessed an attached file that unleashed a widespread problem inside the county ’ s network of computers and information technology . The intent of that ransomware attack Attack.Ransom was to essentially access as many county government files and data servers as possible . Then , the information was encrypted or locked , keeping employees at the county from accessing operating systems and files . The person or people responsible for the infiltration then demanded Attack.Ransom the county pay Attack.Ransom two bitcoins , or about $ 23,000 , in exchange for a release of the locked data . The county refused to pay Attack.Ransom . County officials say they anticipate the recovery time for Mecklenburg County government operations will take days . “ We are open for business , and we are slow , but there ’ s no indication of any data loss Attack.Databreach or that personal information was compromised Attack.Databreach , ” Diorio said . Diorio said third-party security experts believe the attack Attack.Ransom earlier this week by a new strain of ransomware called LockCrypt originated from Iran or Ukraine . Forty-eight of about 500 county computer servers were affected .