ENFIELD — A town employee is on paid administrative leave after a “cybersecurity incident” resulted in the transfer of town funds into a fraudulent account.

A “substantial amount” of missing funds were discovered on Monday evening, according to a Thursday news release from Town Manager Ed Morris.

“Due to the active investigation and ongoing recovery efforts, we will not be disclosing specific amounts at this time,” the release said. 

The town also has not released the name of the employee.

After learning of the missing money, Morris alerted the town’s cybersecurity insurance provider, which brought in a third-party forensic team, and notified the U.S. Secret Service. By Tuesday morning, the Enfield Police Department and FBI Cyber Crimes Division were also involved in the investigation.

“Preliminary findings suggest that a Town employee responded to a request to update bank account information for one of our vendors, but did not follow established office procedures, which resulted in funds being deposited into an unauthorized account,” the release said.

With the assistance of the bank and the Secret Service, a portion of the missing money is already on its way back to the town. Efforts are underway to recover more.

Town officials are “committed to enhancing cybersecurity measures to prevent similar incidents in the future,” the release said.