Georgia’s statewide court records authority has taken its website and e-filing systems offline after detecting what it calls a “credible and ongoing cybersecurity threat,” slowing real estate and notary transactions across multiple counties.
The Georgia Superior Court Clerks’ Cooperative Authority, known as The Clerks’ Authority, is displaying a “system maintenance in progress” notice and says it restricted access to its website and related services after activating defensive security protocols. Officials say they are testing systems “out of an abundance of caution” before restoring access but have not given a timeline.
Real estate attorneys told Atlanta News First they found the Uniform Commercial Code and real estate index portals unexpectedly down for “maintenance” on Monday morning, noting that planned outages are normally announced in advance and not scheduled at the start of the workweek.
County clerks’ offices across Georgia report they cannot process electronic real estate filings, notary commissions, UCC filings or electronic certifications while the authority’s systems are offline. Rockdale County and others say eRecording, notary applications, the eCertification portal and the Filing Activity Notification System are unavailable, though most offices continue to accept paper filings.
“The Clerks’ Authority systems are down. Our office has been affected by this, and we are unable to process any electronic real estate filings, notary commissions, UCCs or electronic certifications,” Rockdale County’s clerk of court told residents, adding there is no estimated time for resolution.
Security researchers and several news outlets say the disruption coincides with a claim from ransomware gang Devman, which allegedly added the authority to its leak site on Nov. 21, asserting it stole about 500 gigabytes of data and is demanding a $400,000 ransom. The Clerks’ Authority has not confirmed any ransomware infection, ransom demand or data theft and has not said whether systems were encrypted.
Devman has previously claimed attacks on government agencies in several countries as well as U.S. public and healthcare entities, part of a broader pattern of ransomware targeting local governments and courts.
Based in Atlanta, the Georgia Superior Court Clerks’ Cooperative Authority runs statewide indexes of deeds, liens, mortgages, UCC filings, civil and criminal case records and notary registrations from all 159 counties, underpinning property transfers, lending and legal proceedings across Georgia.
The incident is part of a broader pattern in the state, where cyberattacks have recently hit the Ogeechee Judicial Circuit district attorney’s office, forced Cobb County to pull servers offline and prompted the Secretary of State’s office to defend its absentee ballot request website against a foreign DDoS attempt.
For now, attorneys, title companies and residents involved in real estate transactions or notary applications are being told to contact their local clerk of court, expect delays and rely on paper filings until statewide systems are restored. The authority says teams are working around the clock to validate system safety and will provide updates as services come back online.
