A cyber incident disrupted email access at Waukegan Township in Illinois, prompting officials Wednesday to warn residents about malicious messages appearing to come from the local government.
The township said its email system had been “compromised and hacked.” NBC Chicago reported that officials were working to restore regular access and had asked residents to be patient. Residents were told to verify questionable messages by phone.
Officials warned recipients to delete emails with subject lines such as “NEW DOCUMENT NOTIFICATION” and not to click any links.
The incident disrupted a routine government communications channel and created a fraud risk for residents who may trust messages bearing the township’s name.
Waukegan Township is a separate local government from the city of Waukegan, though its administrative office is in the city. The township covers parts of Waukegan, North Chicago, Park City and Beach Park and says it serves more than 100,000 residents in northern Lake County.
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Similar compromises have left other public agencies unable to rely on email while other services remained available. Liberty Township, Ohio, directed residents to call its offices after staff lost email access, while its website, phones and public portals continued operating. A North Dakota school district similarly warned that email had become unreliable after a cyber incident affecting its Google domain and told families to contact staff by phone.
Waukegan Township had not disclosed whether systems beyond email were affected. Its website remained accessible Wednesday evening, and officials had announced no disruptions to phone service, offices or public programs.
Officials also had not disclosed how the email system was compromised, how many accounts were affected, whether information was accessed or whether the malicious messages originated from legitimate township accounts. No ransomware, ransom demand or threat actor had been confirmed.
