A cyber incident disrupted government phones and internet service in North Platte and Lincoln County, Nebraska, Friday, forcing county offices and the courthouse to close early.
Officials disconnected software used by both governments after a breach and requested state cybersecurity help. Gov. Jim Pillen signed an emergency proclamation authorizing the Nebraska National Guard’s Cyber Protection Team to support the response, Nebraska Public Media reported.
The outage began Friday morning, KNOP reported. Some city telephone lines and all county lines were down, including the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office line, according to the county’s statement.
Officials said 911 and emergency services remained operational, as did phones at North Platte’s public safety building. Public transit continued running, with its main telephone line transferred to a cellphone.
“This team has the knowledge and specialized training to deal with situations like this,” Pillen said in a statement reported by KNOP. The Nebraska Emergency Management Agency was coordinating assistance with state and local partners.
A Region 51 Emergency Management statement described the breach as contained. Some software remained disconnected as a precaution while state and private sector experts worked to identify and secure affected systems.
Officials said utility, bill-paying and financial services had not been breached and city and county finances were secure. Their initial statement said no pertinent information had been identified as compromised, but did not establish whether information had been accessed or copied.
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A recent network and phone shutdown in Jefferson County, Missouri, also disrupted public business. The county stopped processing transactions and canceled two public meetings after detecting a security threat. Officials were investigating a possible cyberattack.
North Platte and Lincoln County officials have not identified how the intrusion occurred, who was responsible or whether ransomware was involved.
Brandon Myers, the city and county’s emergency management director, said systems would be reconnected once experts had located and contained any remaining breaches and secured the networks. The latest statement reviewed Saturday gave no restoration deadline.
