100percentfedup.com
Fulton County Government Reportedly Hit With Cyberattack
The Fulton County‚ Georgia‚ government was reportedly hit with a cyberattack over the weekend.
According to NBC News‚ the incident impacted all departments around Fulton County.
The offices of District Attorney Fani Willis‚ who is prosecuting Donald Trump on election interference charges‚ were impacted by the cyber event.
The incident reportedly brought online transactions‚ such as filings for property tax and marriage licenses‚ to a halt.
BREAKING: Fulton County‚ Georgia has been hit with a cyberattack:
An unexpected outage has downed the county’s phone systems and brought certain online transactions to a halt‚ including those filing property tax‚ firearms and marriage licenses‚ the county said in a statement… pic.twitter.com/tFwmofa21e
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) January 29‚ 2024
NBC News reports:
All desktop phones‚ intranet and devices using county servers are down for all departments‚ including District Attorney Fani Willis’ office‚ said a county official with knowledge of the situation.
County employees received an email notification about the outage Monday‚ the official said.
Fulton County Board of Commissioners Chairman Robb Pitts confirmed at a news briefing Monday afternoon that the outage‚ which he said affected the county’s phones‚ courts and tax systems‚ “was a result of a cybersecurity incident” and that law enforcement was investigating.
“We do not yet have a specific time frame for when these systems will be restored‚” Pitts said.
“At this time‚ we are not aware of any transfer of sensitive information about citizens or employees‚ but we will continue to look carefully at this issue‚” he added.
“While most Fulton County offices are open‚ certain transaction types may be limited during this outage‚ including transactions using the property tax system and the justice system affecting several departments. These include e-filing as well as firearms and marriage licenses. There may be other department impacts as well‚” the Fulton County government posted to Facebook.
“The downtown Atlanta office of the Fulton County Tax Commissioner will be closed on Monday‚ January 29. Other offices will be limited to processing motor vehicle renewals via kiosk and assisting customers with general questions. Customers may also purchase motor vehicle renewals through kiosks at certain retail locations. Public computers will be temporarily unavailable at Fulton County Libraries on Monday‚ January 29. Other online library systems‚ including the catalog‚ are available at this time‚” the post continued.
A cyberattack that hit government systems in Fulton County‚ Georgia‚ over the weekend affected the offices of the district attorney who is prosecuting former President Trump on election interference charges‚ local officials say. https://t.co/awoF2nb6Ax
— NBC News (@NBCNews) January 30‚ 2024
More from FOX 5 Atlanta:
The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office says it’s being impacted by the attack too. The agency says several systems are down that affect online and automated processes. The spokeswoman says those are being done manually.
Outside of Fulton County government buildings‚ signs warned residents of the trouble. For those caught in the middle‚ some were just left to joke.
“I’m wondering who didn’t pay the internet bill‚” said Louis Amaru.
Pitts says it is working to address the issues but has not given a timeline for a fix.
Multiple law enforcement agencies are working this case‚ including the FBI which released this statement: “We are aware of the incident with Fulton County IT and have been in contact with them. While we cannot comment on any specific incidents‚ the FBI routinely advises the public and private sectors about cyberthreats in order to help them guard against the actions of cybercriminals. We work with our interagency partners to identify‚ pursue‚ and defeat all those who partake in cybercrime.”