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Fulton County cyberattack: Phones, tax and court systems impacted

By and FOX 5 Atlanta Digital Team
Updated  January 29, 2024 6:51pm EST
Fulton County
FOX 5 Atlanta

Fulton County IT outage outage affects taxes

In Fulton County, a major technology mishap is creating a headache for residents. The IT outage reportedly affected multiple systems, like property taxes and some e-filing technology.

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. - A cyberattack in Fulton County crippled several crucial systems over the weekend. The incident was disclosed on Monday.

Signs greeted residents at county buildings telling them that issues were ongoing, but that still left many upset.

"I'm really frustrated," said Mark Blackmon.

Blackmon is one of the many residents who were turned away from the county’s government offices Monday after a cyberattack.

"I tried to get a tag today, they told me the computer's down, come back whenever," he said.

Fulton County hit with ‘unexpected county-wide IT outage’

For most of the day Monday, Fulton County officials would only say they were dealing with an IT outage, but late in the afternoon, Fulton County Board of Commissioners Chairman Robb Pitts said it was not just technology trouble, but an attack. 

"A number of our primary technology platforms are affected by this incident," he said. "Three notable examples include our phone system, our court system, and our tax system."

'Cyber security incident' impacts Fulton County systems

Fulton County Chairman Robb Pitts gives an update on a cyberattack over the weekend which impacts the phone, court, and tax systems within the county.

The county said while most offices were open Monday, a number of operations were knocked offline. Chairman Pitts says, despite all the issues, they do not believe sensitive information was stolen.

"We are not aware of any transfer of sensitive information about citizens or employees, but we will continue to look carefully at this issue," he said.

What Fulton County systems are impacted by the cyberattack?

The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office says it’s being impacted by the attack too. The agency says several systems are down that affect online and automated processes. The spokeswoman says those are being done manually.

Outside of Fulton County government buildings, signs warned residents of the trouble. For those caught in the middle, some were just left to joke.

"I'm wondering who didn't pay the internet bill," said Louis Amaru.

Pitts says it is working to address the issues but has not given a timeline for a fix.

Multiple law enforcement agencies are working this case, including the FBI which released this statement: "We are aware of the incident with Fulton County IT and have been in contact with them. While we cannot comment on any specific incidents, the FBI routinely advises the public and private sectors about cyberthreats in order to help them guard against the actions of cybercriminals. We work with our interagency partners to identify, pursue, and defeat all those who partake in cybercrime."

Also impacted were transactions using the property tax system and the justice system affecting several departments. These include e-filing as well as firearms and marriage licenses. There may be other department impacts as well.

The downtown Atlanta office of the Fulton County Tax Commissioner closed and other offices will be limited to processing motor vehicle renewals via kiosk and assisting customers with general questions. Customers may also purchase motor vehicle renewals through kiosks at certain retail locations.

Public computers will be temporarily unavailable at Fulton County Libraries. Other online library systems, including the catalog, are available at this time. Additional updates will be provided when available.