JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- After falling victim to a 'denial of service' attack, JEA's website and phone payment system are back up and running.
JEA said customer information and service was not affected, but it still doesn't know the origin of the attack. The FBI is investigating the case; however, some customers are questioning their payment method.
Dijana Malbsic works at the Customer Service Desk at Winn-Dixie, an alternate payment site for JEA. She said she found out about the JEA website being down from the number of customers coming in.
"There was a guy who came in on Sunday and told me the stuff was down, and he didn't even know that he could pay here, so we did see an increase in people coming in to pay," she said.
Customers have been able to make payments online and over the phone since 9 p.m. Tuesday, according to JEA spokesperson Gerri Boyce. The site went down on Sunday evening.
"This was an attack. If you think about it in terms of a massive traffic jam, that's what happened to our service," she said.
Boyce said the FBI is investigating the hack and has hired a third-party to help protect JEA's server and prevent any future security breaches.
"The people who do this are always changing," she explained. "We can never rest on what we've done; we just have to make sure we stay ahead of the next one."
Boyce said the attack occurred in a completely different area and behind a firewall of where customer information is stored, so it was never at risk.
Though most customers we talked to said they aren't concerned, others weren't completely convinced.
"I'm actually not going to pay online anymore," said one customer.
Another customer agreed. "I'll probably change my password or something like that."
When asked if he was worried, a third customer said he was just a little concerned. "A bit, but I think they'll take care of it. I don't think it'll be too much of an issue," he said.
Non-payment disconnections were suspended during the site's outage and they were also suspended on Wednesday as a courtesy to JEA customers, Boyce said. Orders will begin processing Thursday.
Payments can also be made by phone at (904) 665-6000 and at more than 140 payment locations, including Winn-Dixie & Tax Collector branches.
First Coast News