Wiscasset is reviewing its computers’ security following an incident with one at Wiscasset Municipal Airport, Town Manager Marian Anderson said Friday.

“It heightened our awareness,” Anderson said.

The December 2015 incident cost the town nothing; the service contract with the town’s computer firm covered the work on the computer, she said.

Interviewed separately, airport manager Frank Costa said he was working at a computer Dec. 3 when the mouse began moving on its own, all over the screen.

Then Costa got a phone call from someone claiming they’d discovered a problem with the computer’s software.

The caller said it would normally cost $500 to fix, but that they could do it for $300.

“No way was I going to give this guy a credit card, or anything,” Costa said. Costa ended the call and quickly took steps on airport equipment to avoid more problems. Then he contacted Anderson, who directed him to the town’s computer firm, Burgess Computer in Bath.

The firm had the computer for about a week and got everything on it back in order; The computer is used mostly for internal documentation that does not have to be done daily, although a longer wait might have been a problem, Costa said.

There was no compromise to flights or other airport business during the incident; nor was airport information hacked on the computer, Costa said. The information is all in folders that require codes for access, he said.

He summarizes the incident in a Jan. 9 department head report to Anderson, on December airport activities: “The ... computer was hijacked with a follow-up phone call demanding a dollar amount in order to release the computer and restore it to a functioning state,” Costa writes. “The computer was immediately taken to Burgess Computer and restored to its normal capacities without the loss of information or damaged software. Burgess Computer was able to install various safety software items to avoid future incidents,” it states.

Burgess Computer is conducting the review of the town’s computers; those that deal with finances were already well-encrypted and well-protected, Anderson said in Friday’s interview.

“We are reviewing what we have in all departments to make sure we are well-protected,” she added.