Cleveland in contact with FBI and state after “cyber incident”

Cleveland will close City Hall to the public Thursday and Friday after authorities took the city’s computer systems offline due to the unspecified “cyber incident” over the weekend. Employees must still report to the building for work.

The city is now in contact with the FBI and the state’s cybersecurity reserve about the incident, authorities said. Mayor Justin Bibb’s administration has made little comment on what exactly happened to the city’s computer systems, citing the ongoing investigation.

The FBI is “in contact with city officials,” a spokesman said, without elaborating. The Ohio Cyber ​​Reserve – a civilian volunteer cybersecurity force – is also assisting the city, according to a press secretary for the Ohio National Guard.

On Wednesday, employees at City Hall and branches in the Erieview complex returned to their workstations after the buildings were closed Monday and Tuesday. But not all of the city’s computer systems were operational yet, the city acknowledged in a news release. At least part of City Hall had no internet access, Signal Cleveland learned.

“Today, as we reopened City Hall, we encountered some anticipated challenges with our technology systems,” Bibb’s office said in a news release Wednesday afternoon. “It was necessary to have personnel in the building to understand what systems were working, test applications and determine which systems needed further diagnosis.”

In an email to staff Wednesday morning, the mayor’s office said that while IT staff had the cyber incident “under control,” “a number of computers” had been compromised. Internet access was blocked while IT staff worked to restore computer systems, the email said. The email described this work as a “careful and deliberate process.”

A second email in the afternoon said IT staff would “prioritize restoring critical functions and services.” The email thanked staff for their patience.

“As we work to fully restore our systems and services, please be assured that we are making every effort to minimize disruption and ensure the security of our operations,” the email said.

In a social media post, the city urged residents who need a birth certificate to do so online at clevelandoh.permitium.com/rod.