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Seminole County Clerk closes Florida offices amid reported cyberattack

A systemwide outage closed offices to the public, with injunctions and probate remaining open. The clerk announced deadline extensions and penalty relief.

Trees frame the glass entrance of a white building marked “Seminole County Courthouse.”
The Seminole County Courthouse in Sanford, Florida. (Seminole County Clerk of Court/Facebook)

The Seminole County Clerk's office in Florida closed to the public Thursday amid a systemwide outage following a reported cyberattack that disrupted its website and phones.

The outage affected all locations, the clerk said in an official Facebook post. Offices were “closed to the public until further notice,” with injunctions and probate departments remaining open.

Facebook notice announcing office closures during a systemwide outage, deadline extensions without penalties, child-support payments through PayKidz, and continued injunctions and probate services.
The Seminole County Clerk of Court announced public-office closures and deadline extensions in an Oct. 29 Facebook post, while keeping injunctions and probate departments open. (Screenshot by DysruptionHub)

The clerk said applicable compliance deadlines and payment due dates would be extended, with no penalties during the outage. In a reply to a question about traffic citations, the office said it would issue no late fees or suspensions during the outage.

Child-support payments could be made through Florida PayKidz, the clerk said.

WKMG News 6 reported that unnamed sources said the website had been hacked, with one placing the incident late Wednesday night. The clerk described “technical issues” affecting its website and phones.

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Offices had initially remained open Thursday with limited services and accepted only cash or checks, according to an earlier clerk notice. The later announcement expanded the disruption to public-office closures.

In a separate July website compromise at the St. Lucie County clerk's office, staff removed a malicious script from the separately hosted public website. The St. Lucie office reported no evidence of access to internal systems.

The clerk has not given a restoration date or disclosed whether data was exposed. The attack method and the extent of any compromise of internal systems remain unknown.

DysruptionHub Staff

DysruptionHub Staff

DysruptionHub Staff is the publication’s organizational byline for reports based on public statements, government records, regulatory filings and other available material when no single journalist contributed substantial original reporting.

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