LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — A majority of Nevada State Services have been unavailable for a week, and FOX5 looked at what’s next for residents heading into Labor Day weekend.
“Network issue”
FOX5 first heard about delays in services Sunday when the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said its records and fingerprint department announced a “network issue” within the state. Monday, Governor Joe Lombardo’s office confirmed that recovery efforts had begun and were underway.
Officials said critical employees and operations were not impacted. FOX5 heard from residents that a major concern was DMV services. Since Monday, DMV officials told people with appointments impacted by the outage that they could walk in over the next two weeks without rescheduling.
Confirmed cyberattack
Tuesday, the governor’s office confirmed the network issue was a cyberattack.
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It wasn’t until Wednesday that investigators confirmed that data was stolen from Nevada systems.
Timothy Galluzi, executive director of the Governor’s Technology Office, stated that the attack was ransomware-based.
“Our state data center operations team detected anomalous activity in our server infrastructure. Our teams acted immediately, and by late Sunday our concerns were confirmed: the State of Nevada has become the target of a sophisticated, ransomware-based cybersecurity attack,” Galluzi said.
Officials could not comment on a range of questions surrounding the cyber criminals’ identities, motives, or whether their actions are tied to other incidents across the country. It’s also not known what type of data was taken.
Governor Joe Lombardo’s first appearance
On Thursday, Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo made his first appearance since news of the network issue broke. He said he had pre-planned events discussing emergency management and economic issues in Elko, Eureka and Ely.
“As we move into the recovery piece of a crisis that is more of a technical response provided by my directors and the experts in the recovery … I felt comfortable in being absent,” he said.
Officials said at Thursday’s press conference that they are still working to understand what data left the system.
“If there is a confirmed release of personal identifiable information, we would take steps to notify the individuals impacted by that release,” Galluzi said.
What’s next?
Governor Lombardo directed the community to their temporary recovery website, which he said is the best source for up-to-date information. He also announced an expanded 211 helpline for assistance related to the cyberattack.
FOX5 learned from The Just One Project, a Las Vegas Valley nonprofit organization, that benefits from the Department of Social Services will be distributed on Monday morning. This comes after residents reported not receiving SNAP benefits.
“We are very grateful to all behind the scenes that helped to get things back online,” the nonprofit said.
Additionally, the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s website is back online; however, login remains unavailable for employee registration applications and tax and fee payments.
The Nevada Highway Patrol’s online and administrative services continue to be unavailable, according to a public information officer. Phone lines for NHP and dispatch are working.
“Troopers and Officers are on duty and will continue to provide public safety services,” NHP said. “Thank you for your continued patience and partnership.”
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