Fulton County IT staff worked through the weekend restoring systems and investigating the cyber attack that crashed parts of the government’s online operations.
“Especially important to note that there is, and I repeat, there is no evidence or reason to believe that this incident is related to the election process or other current events,” Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts said in a press conference on Monday, eight days after the county first identified suspicious activity in its IT systems.
Fulton County and the Georgia Secretary of State’s respective technology systems were isolated from one another in an abundance of caution, Pitts said. They are now working to reconnect those systems in preparation for next month’s primary election.
The county is working with local and federal law enforcement, and external cybersecurity experts, on the investigation, he said.
“It is our intention to be as transparent as possible with our residents. However, this is an ongoing investigation that is still in its early stages. As such there are certain details that we are unable to share at this time,” Pitts said.
A limited number of phone lines have been restored and more are being added. The latest department and service contact information can be found online, or residents can contact the county at customerservice@fultoncountyga.gov.
“Our tax system is still down at this time. However, the Board of Assessors has resumed accepting homestead exemption applications,” Pitts said.
The process is manual at this time, as the latest cyber incident update reported. For information visit www.fultonassessor.org.
The Fulton County tax system is down, Pitts said, but the Fulton County Boards of Equalization resume hearings on Tuesday with some modifications.
Motor vehicle services had previously been restored, he said.
“With the busiest court system in the southeast, we know that this is affecting many of our constituents,” Pitts said.
The Superior Court of Fulton County posted a FAQ page about the IT outage that is affecting court operations and the processing of all filings. Some juror groups are still required to report and the Jury Page has additional instructions. E-filings are still possible in many criminal, civil, and family division matters.
Fulton County Superior Court has resumed issuing marriage licenses and marriage certificates, according to the online update. Friday weddings will take place as scheduled.