The county announced Thursday it has begun notifying 10 individuals believed to have had “information accessed and copied from a limited number of Cobb County systems by an unauthorized actor.”
It’s not clear exactly what the hackers took. The county notes only that “the specific data involved varies by individual,” and that it will be providing identity theft protection and credit monitoring if necessary.
The county’s information and technology services department detected an unauthorized user on county servers on March 21. Online servers for the county were downed for days as staff worked to assess security and conduct maintenance.
All servers were back online by March 27.
The county said the investigation into the breach is ongoing, that the FBI has been notified and that any additional potentially affected parties will be notified as needed.
“The Cobb County Board of Commissioners takes the confidentiality, privacy, and security of information entrusted to us very seriously,” a Thursday press release from the county reads. “While the investigation continues into the recent detection of unauthorized activity, the County is not waiting for that investigation to be completed before it acts.”
Commissioner JoAnn Birrell directed questions to the county attorney’s office. Commissioner Monique Sheffield said her only comment was “Breach: Under investigation.” Chairwoman Lisa Cupid said she was “unable to add anything further” to existing information, declining to answer a question about whether or not the hack was a ransomware attack.
Commissioner Keli Gambrill told the MDJ she thought the county staff has done a “great job” navigating a difficult situation.
“I think the county has done a great job in handling it. Unfortunately, breaches of information are all too common at this time,” she said. “Cobb County has handled everything according to the letter of the law.”
The announcement from the county comes one day after the MDJ accepted charges on an open records request related to the breach.
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