Fulton County government offices continue to experience an extensive IT outage caused by a cyber attack for another day on Feb. 2.
The county posted an updated list of contact phone numbers and email addresses on its website to help the public reach county agencies. The county also suggested reaching out through its customer service email address, customerservice@fultoncountyga.gov.
Superior Court of Fulton County posted on its website an FAQ of court processes during the IT outage. Under those FAQs, the court system said some juror groups are still required to report.
Many Fulton County vehicle owners took advantage of the resumption of services on Wednesday by the Fulton Tax Commissioner’s motor vehicle division by conducting new tag applications and tag renewals, title transfers, and other vehicle transactions.
But the ongoing Fulton County government IT outage has made it impossible to conduct many other transactions, leaving residents unable to pay property taxes, record property transactions, get a marriage license, or apply for a firearms permit.
The county said in an evening update that Fulton’s 911 system remains operational and most county departments and agencies continue operations, but many technology systems used to serve the public and internally are not available.
The following is a list of service disruptions and updates:
- The cyber attack still has most phone lines down.
- Online property records of the Fulton County Board of Assessors remain unavailable.
- The county is unable to process property related transactions.
- The Fulton County Tax Commissioner Office in Downtown Atlanta reopens on Wednesday. All tax offices will be able to process motor vehicle-related transactions, though no property tax transactions are possible. The Georgia Department of Revenue granted a “holiday” for Fulton County customers who were unable to process their motor vehicle permits during the outage.
- The Fulton County justice system has been affected by the outage. Backup processes are being used to continue first appearance hearings and scheduled court hearings. But some court transactions are unavailable including e-filing and access to online records.
- The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office has to use its backup system – paper – to process detainees. The Fulton County Police Department is unable to issue police reports.
- Offices of the Superior and Magistrate Clerk at the North Fulton and South Fulton Service Centers reopened for customers who need notary commission and passport application services. The county recommends that they make an appointment via the Clerk’s website.
- While the Fulton County Probate Court offices can’t issue new firearms permits and marriage certificates, they can issue permit renewals for them.
- Fulton County’s water service has not been affected by the outage, but billing and payment services remained offline.
- Hearings of the Boards of Equalization scheduled through Monday, Feb. 5 have been postponed and will be rescheduled. Fulton County Elections offices are closed. But logic accuracy testing continues at the Fulton County Elections Hub.
- Fulton County Library patrons can still check out the catalog and check out books, but none of the public computers are available. Seniors centers are operational, as are services of the Department of Behavioral Health & Developmental Disabilities.
12:15 p.m. update
On Monday, Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts confirmed that the IT outage affecting county government offices was the result of a cyber attack.
“This incident has been reported to law enforcement and it’s under active investigation,” Pitts said in a news conference held on Jan. 29. “That investigation is still in the early stages. So we’ll we will be providing limited information at this time.”
He said a number of the county’s primary technology platforms were affected, with the phone system, court system, and tax system notable examples.
The county was not aware of any sensitive information about county residents or employees being accessed, Pitts said.
“We do not yet have a specific timeframe for when these systems will be restored. But we ask for your patience during this response,” he said.
Original Story
On Sunday, Fulton County announced that county offices were not able to accept phone calls as the IT outages were affecting the county’s VOIP (voice over Internet protocol), a Fulton County press release reported.
Most county offices will be open, but the types of transactions they can process may be limited, including property tax transactions and the justice system. Firearms and marriage licenses are also among the affected transactions.
The Fulton County Tax Commissioner’s Downtown Atlanta office will be closed on Monday, Jan. 29. Other offices will be limited to processing motor vehicle renewals via kiosk and assisting customers with general questions. Motor vehicle renewals may be purchased at some retail locations. A list of those kiosks is available online.
Public computers will be temporarily unavailable at Fulton County Libraries on Monday. But other online library systems, including its catalog, were available.
Contact Fulton County Customer Service at customerservice@fultoncountyga.gov with questions.