Lucas County, Ohio, officials said a “security incident” disrupted parts of the county network in mid-March 2026, briefly knocking key public-facing portals offline, including the auditor’s real estate system, as outside cybersecurity experts joined the investigation.
County officials said they took some systems offline from county websites after learning of an incident that “impacted the network,” according to comments from county communications director Sarah Elms.
The Auditor’s Real Estate Information System, a public property-records tool, was down since at least Sunday and was restored after 8 p.m. Tuesday, a county spokesman told The Blade. A Lucas County dog licensing portal was also down Tuesday.
Elms said external-facing systems were accessible again while the investigation continued.
The county has not disclosed the nature of the incident or who may have been responsible, and there were no public claims of responsibility. The county did not respond to an emailed request for comment from DysruptionHub.
“Upon learning of the incident, we took certain systems offline out of an abundance of caution and began a thorough investigation with leading information security experts,” Elms said, adding that the county’s focus was “a safe and efficient remediation process and the restoration of our systems.”
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Ohio county governments have faced a run of cyber-related disruptions over the past 18 months, sometimes forcing offices to limit public services while officials investigate. In Lorain County, authorities said a network security incident in late May 2025 disrupted systems and shut down some court services as IT staff worked to restore operations. In Trumbull County, officials acknowledged a November 2025 breach that led to limited services across several county departments and later described the event as tied to a third-party vendor issue. In Wood County, commissioners said a December 2024 ransomware attack crippled county systems until the county negotiated and paid $1.5 million to resolve the incident and begin restoring services.
Lucas County, anchored by Toledo along Lake Erie, has about 426,000 residents and runs core local-government services and public records systems used by residents and businesses.
County officials have not publicly detailed what systems were affected beyond the disrupted portals, whether law enforcement was notified, or whether any data access is suspected.
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