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Prince George County, Virginia, cyber claim follows outage

County phones, internet and online payments were disrupted as RansomHouse claimed it encrypted the local government. Officials have not confirmed ransomware.

Red-brick Prince George County Courthouse entrance with white columns and “Prince George County Courthouse” engraved above the doorway.
Prince George County Courthouse in Prince George, Virginia. (Taber Andrew Bain/Wikimedia Commons)

Prince George County, Virginia, said an internal network outage has disrupted county phone, internet and online payment services since June 11, while 911 and non-emergency dispatch remain available.

The outage has affected public-facing services for nearly a week, including online bill pay and water and wastewater payments. Prince George County, whose county seat is Prince George, is a southeastern Virginia county in the Richmond metropolitan area with about 43,600 residents.

RansomHouse listed Prince George County on its leak site, claiming the county was “encrypted” on June 10, 2026, and posting an “evidence pack.” DysruptionHub reviewed a screenshot of the listing, but the county has not publicly confirmed ransomware, encryption, malware, unauthorized access, data theft or a ransom demand.

RansomHouse leak-site listing for Prince George County showing an encryption claim, an evidence-pack link and a warning about possible data leakage.
RansomHouse listed Prince George County on its leak site and claimed the county was encrypted on June 10, 2026. The county has not publicly confirmed ransomware or data theft. (Screenshot by DysruptionHub)

The county’s first social media alert reviewed by DysruptionHub said the outage was countywide as of 9 a.m. June 11 and affected county phones and internet lines. A later June 11 post said the outage affected phone and internet service across all county offices, though offices would remain open during regular business hours.

Prince George County Facebook post from June 11 warning that phone and internet lines were down because of a countywide network outage.
Prince George County said in a June 11 Facebook post that a countywide network outage was affecting phone and internet lines. (Screenshot by DysruptionHub)

Officials said some services could be delayed or temporarily unavailable. Residents were told to call 911 for urgent assistance or the county’s non-emergency dispatch line for non-emergency police, fire or EMS calls.

The county said residents could still access its website, but online bill pay systems were affected. An alert visible on multiple county pages also said the outage was affecting online payment applications and that staff were working to fix the issue.

Prince George County website banner warning that a network outage is affecting county phone and internet lines while offices remain open.
Prince George County posted a website notice saying an internal network outage was affecting county phone and internet lines. (Screenshot by DysruptionHub)

In a June 12 social media notice reviewed by DysruptionHub, the county Utilities Department said water and wastewater payments were unavailable during the outage. The department said bills mailed in May with a June 15 due date would not receive late fees until June 30.

DysruptionHub requested comment from Prince George County on June 15 about the outage’s cause, whether it was being investigated as a cybersecurity incident, whether there was evidence of unauthorized access, malware, ransomware or data exposure, and which services remained affected. DysruptionHub sent a follow-up after RansomHouse listed the county on its leak site. The county had not responded by publication.

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The outage follows several recent cyber-related disruptions at county governments, including limited DMV services in Kittson County, Minnesota; network and internet disruptions in Spartanburg County, South Carolina; and a malware-related shutdown of county computers and phones in Chelan County, Washington.

As of the latest county alerts reviewed by DysruptionHub, county offices remained open and emergency dispatch remained available, but online payment applications and other services remained affected. The county has not said what caused the outage, whether data was taken, whether law enforcement or state cybersecurity officials are involved, or when full service will be restored.

Attribution note: DysruptionHub credits upstream reporting and primary sources—see citations above. If this report informed your coverage, please cite DysruptionHub with a link.
DysruptionHub Staff

DysruptionHub Staff

A collaborative project to bring you the latest cyberattacks impacting the availability of services and goods in the United States.

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