COLUMBUS, Ohio — More than two months after the city of Columbus was impacted by a cyberattack, Mayor Andrew Ginther says that "significant progress has been made" in bringing their systems back online.
Since events unfolded on July 18, it was revealed that hundreds of thousands of private citizens’ information was leaked in the data breach as well as personal information from the Columbus Division of Fire and the Columbus Division of Police.
In a letter to residents sent by Ginther's office, he said that while the recovery efforts are ongoing, 70% of the city's systems have been fully restored and another 7% are partially restored.
The goal is to achieve full restoration of all systems by the end of October.
"We remain steadfast in our commitment to completely restoring all city functions, supporting Columbus residents and strengthening our defenses against future cyberattacks," Ginther said.
He added that the city is still learning more about the origins of the cyberattack and is conducting data forensics to analyze what data was stolen and how many records may have been affected.
Anyone impacted by the cyberattack is encouraged to sign up for two years of free Experian credit protection, dark web monitoring and up to $1 million in identity theft insurance. The deadline to enroll is Nov. 29.
"We will continue to repair the damage that was caused by this attack, build a stronger, more secure technological infrastructure and support our residents by empowering them with access to timely and relevant resources and information," Ginther said.
There are currently two different class-action lawsuits against the city seeking information and asking the city to adopt sufficient security practices and safeguards to prevent incidents like data breaches.