Sheriff Ron Cramer says someone tried to get county money again after the county set up new passwords.

There's no word on who tried a second time to get money from the county, but Sheriff Cramer says it happened on a different day from the first incident.

In it, the county says it believes Russian cyber hackers launched a software attack, and tried to get nearly $800,000. In the end, no money was lost.

"The PC got a virus and as a result, the credentials were compromised and that's how they were able to get in," said Information Systems Director Dave Hayden. He says he's holding onto a computer which he says is the one that ended up with two viruses on it, just in case investigators need to take a look at it.

He says the county's computers now have multiple passwords for money-moving, and responsibilities are divided among several users.

"They're very careful, and they always have been. It's just that this raises the level of concern," Hayden said.

The Sheriff says whoever is responsible for the hacking committed a felony.

"It's no different than walking into a bank armed except you've done it electronically," Cramer said.

If it really is hackers from Russia as the county suspects, Cramer says another agency, perhaps the FBI, will have to take over the investigation.

"At the end of the day, there's no international arrests that we can do."

FBI spokesman Leonard Peace would only tell us that the agency is assessing the complaint from Eau Claire County.

Hayden says if it turns out that investigators don't need the computer with the viruses, the county will clear the hard drive, and use it once again.

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Story from February 25:

Eau Claire County says the incident happened in late January, and that it's since revised it's rules for transferring money electronically.

A college information technology instructor says banks typically aren't targets for hackers, but that hackers do tend to replicate retail websites.

"The banks are pretty, pretty careful with the security that they apply, but it's like anything else, if you let someone have access to your account numbers, the bank has no way to protect against that," said CVTC Information Technology Network Instructor Mark Puig.

Alliance Bank protected the county against what it says could have been a six-figure loss.

It called the county treasurer's office about some suspicious wire transfers. The staff there told the bank it only requested one transfer, and it called off the others.

Now it says the FBI thinks Russian cyber-hackers are to blame.

"If the machine has been hacked, usually you can't tell. The program or the infection, whatever it is that you might have, will start transmitting data when it's online," Puig said.

County Board member Stella Pagonis says the FBI took a computer that the county used for wire transfers. Those transactions were suspended. The county later restored them under it's new rules.

County Administrator Tom McCarty said in a statement that the incident is a reminder of the constant need for good security with electronic systems.

Experts say it's a good idea to be careful while using your home computer too.

"Probably the most important thing is practicing safe computing, that you don't just browse all over the internet, because it's a good way to pick up things that you probably don't want," Puig said.

The county says the investigation into the incident is still pending right now. It says it worked with alliance bank to set up new security measures and firewalls to protect itself.

We left several messages for the County Administrator, Finance Director, and the Sheriff. None of them returned our calls.