State Responds to Network Security Incident Affecting Online Services

The Nevada Office of Emergency Management/Homeland Security (EOM) has created a temporary Nevada State website for public information regarding the recovery status after a cyberattack disrupted some Nevada state government websites and online services.

According to the website at https://www.oem.nv.gov/en/recovery/, in the early morning of Sunday, Aug. 24, the State of Nevada identified a ransomware-based cyber incident and immediately activated its cyber response plan, engaging in 24/7 recovery efforts. To contain the threat, teams isolated and took some systems offline while restoring others safely in stages.

The incident remains under active state and federal investigation in coordination with CISA and the FBI. A forensic review confirms that some data was exfiltrated (moved outside the state network). Investigators are determining the scope, and if personal information is confirmed, the State says it will notify affected individuals consistent with law.

The incident continues to impact the availability of certain state technology systems. Some websites or phone lines may be slow or temporarily unavailable during recovery.

The website says that the Office of the Governor and the Governor’s Technology Office (GTO) are working continuously with state, local and federal partners to restore services safely. Services will be brought back in phases after they pass security checks, with priority on public-facing and critical services.

Some county systems that are maintained by the state were also affected. Lyon County Sheriff Brad Pope said the server for the sheriff’s office’s report management system was shut down. The program is used to dispatch law enforcement, fire and EMS services throughout the county. While radios are still working, all logs are being done by hand while the system is down. 

Pope said every division of the sheriff’s office is dependent on the report management system to operate. Services that are provided at the substation are on hold until the state is back online and the system is operational.