Some Iowa county records inaccessible in wake of suspected cyberattack
A computer system used by some of Iowa’s county recorders appears to have been hacked over the holidays and has yet to be restored to full operational status.
County recorders maintain land records, issue marriage licenses and register births and deaths. They also issue titles and liens on boats, snowmobiles and ATVs. The biggest immediate effect of the apparent hack is that the public, as well as the recorders themselves, can’t currently access real estate records.
It’s not clear how many of Iowa’s county recorders are under contact with Cott Systems, which was the victim of a suspected cyberattack shortly after Christmas. The Ohio company provides document hosting services to government agencies in at least 21 states.
Iowa counties that are known to have used at least some of Cott Systems’ services include Dallas, Scott, Allamakee, Black Hawk and Jasper.
Polk County uses some of Cott Systems’ software, but doesn’t contract with Cott for hosting the county’s records. As a result, it has been unaffected by the apparent cyberattack, said Tom Brogan, Polk County’s first deputy recorder.
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Dallas County, however, does have its documents hosted by Cott. Dallas County Recorder ReNae Arnold said Thursday that the company recently notified her of the hack.
“I don’t know anything about what happened or any of the details,” she said. “Their system was compromised, but how far (the hackers) went into their system, I have no idea. They’re not giving us that information.”
She added that Cott Systems informed her office the FBI is investigating.
Other news sources have reported that Cott Systems informed all of its government customers Dec. 26 of the attack. On Jan. 2, the company’s CEO, Deborah Ball, reportedly informed customers that Cott’s databases were still complete and that 93% of its infrastructure had been fixed. At that time, Ball said she was unsure when services might be fully restored.
The company was able to get Dallas County’s system up and running briefly, but the system went down again on Jan. 5. It still wasn’t working Jan. 6, although office personnel said they hope it will be operational the following week.
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Arnold said Cott Systems has told her the hacker was not able to access any information from the Dallas County Recorder’s Office and has also assured her that no county records have been irretrievably lost.
“The information is still there, and we will be able to access it again at some point,” she said.
Cott Systems provides public-records management services for more than 300 government agencies in the United States. The company helps them record and archive documents while also making them searchable and accessible to members of the public.
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Find this story at Iowa Capital Dispatch, which is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: kobradovich@iowacapitaldispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Records in some Iowa counties inaccessible after suspected cyberattack
