Fulton County working to get services back online after cybersecurity incident

WSBTV.com News Staff
·3 min read

Many of Fulton County’s online systems are still offline after a “cybersecurity incident.”

The county learned about the outage on Sunday and The Department of Information Technology worked Monday morning to get the system back up.

“At this time, we can confirm the incident was because of a cybersecurity incident,” Fulton County Chairman Robb Pitts told Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes.

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A spokesperson adds that there is no reason to believe that any personal information was compromised, but they are continuing to investigate.

The court system is one of many departments affected by the outage. Spokespeople say that nothing can be filed so any indictments and other motions can be filed.

They also confirmed that the high-profile election interference case against former President Donald Trump and more than a dozen others did not see any of its evidence lost.

“All material related to the election interference case is kept in a separate, highly secure system - that was not hacked - and is designed to make unauthorized access extremely difficult - if not impossible,” they said in a statement in part.

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Police officers say they have had a more difficult time filing warrants, which is typically done electronically.

An Emory University professor told Fernandes that the timeline for fixing the problem will depend on what type of cybersecurity attack the county is dealing with.

Pitts and the county have not given specific details on the attack.

The county is now sharing an update on which systems they have been able to restore and which ones are still down.

  • Phone lines are down at most Fulton County offices.

  • The Fulton County justice system has been affected by the widespread outage. Justice agencies are collaborating to use backup processes to continue first appearance hearings and all other scheduled court hearings. Some other court transactions are unavailable at this time, including e-filing and access to online records. The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office is currently relying on backup (paper) processes for detainee processing.

  • The Fulton County Tax Commissioner Office in downtown Atlanta will reopen on Wednesday, January 31. All offices will now be able to process all motor vehicle-related transactions. Property tax transactions are still unavailable. The Georgia Department of Revenue has approved a “holiday” for Fulton County customers who were not able to process their motor vehicle permits during this outage.

  • Offices of the Superior and Magistrate Clerk at the North Fulton and South Fulton Service Centers have reopened to customers for notary commission and passport application services. It is recommended that customers visit the Clerk’s website to make an appointment.

  • Fulton County Probate Court offices are now able to issue marriage licenses and firearms permit renewals. New firearms permits and marriage certificates are unavailable at this time.

  • Hearings of the Boards of Equalization scheduled through Monday, February 5 have been postponed and will be rescheduled for a future time.

  • Online property records of the Fulton County Board of Assessors are unavailable due to this outage, and no property-related transactions may be processed at this time.

  • The Fulton County Library System’s online catalog and platforms are available. Public computers at Fulton County libraries are unavailable at this time.

  • Fulton County water service is unaffected by the outage, but billing and payment services are offline at this time.

  • Fulton County’s 911 system is operational for all members of the public served by the center.

  • Fulton County Police Department is unable to issue Police Reports at this time.

  • Fulton County Elections offices are temporarily closed. Logic and Accuracy testing is continuing at the Fulton County Elections Hub.

  • Fulton County Senior Centers are all operational.

  • Services of the Department of Behavioral Health & Developmental Disabilities are operational.

Fulton County crews are working around the clock to get services fully restored.

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