Cleveland is closing City Hall services to the public Thursday and Friday after the weekend’s unspecified “cyber incident” led officials to take the city’s computer systems offline. Employees must still report to work at the building, however.
Meanwhile, the city has been in contact with the FBI and the state’s cybersecurity reserve about the incident, the agencies said. Mayor Justin Bibb’s administration has said little about what specifically happened to the city’s computer systems, citing the ongoing investigation.
The FBI has been “in communication with city officials,” a spokesperson said without elaborating further. The Ohio Cyber Reserve – a civilian volunteer cybersecurity force – is also assisting the city, according to an Ohio National Guard public information officer.
The public will still be able to get into City Hall this week, but won’t be able to access services there, Marie Zickefoose, the mayor’s press secretary, told Signal Cleveland. She reiterated that the city is still responding to emergency calls, running the airports and providing water and electricity to customers.
Employees returned to work Wednesday at City Hall and satellite offices in the Erieview complex after the buildings were closed Monday and Tuesday. But not all city computer systems were up and running yet, the city acknowledged in a news release. At least part of City Hall was without internet access, Signal Cleveland learned.
“Today, as we re-opened City Hall, we encountered some expected challenges with our technological systems,” Bibb’s office said in a news release Wednesday afternoon. “It was necessary to have staff in the building to understand what systems are working, test applications and determine what systems need further diagnosis.”
In an email Wednesday morning to employees, the mayor’s office said IT staff had “contained the cyber incident” but that “a number of computers” had been compromised. Internet access was locked down as IT staff worked to restore computer systems, the email said. The email described that work as “a careful and deliberate process.”
A second email to employees in the afternoon said IT staff were “prioritizing the restoration of critical functions and services.” The email thanked employees for their patience.
“As we work to fully restore our systems and services, please be assured that we are making every effort to minimize disruptions and ensure the security of our operations,” the email said.
In a social media post, the city encouraged residents seeking birth certificates to do so online at clevelandoh.permitium.com/rod.