Cyberattack hits Georgia county at center of voting software breach | CyberScoop<\/title> <meta name=\"description\" content=\"State officials in Georgia have severed Coffee County\u2019s access to statewide election systems while the breach is being addressed.\"> <link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/cyberattack-hits-georgia-county-at-center-of-voting-software-breach\/\"> <meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\"> <meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\"> <meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cyberattack hits Georgia county at center of voting software breach\"> <meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"State officials in Georgia have severed Coffee County\u2019s access to statewide election systems while the breach is being addressed.\"> <meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/cyberattack-hits-georgia-county-at-center-of-voting-software-breach\/\"> <meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CyberScoop\"> <meta 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stickybar--newsletter js-stickybar\" readability=\"0.82\"> <button class=\"stickybar__close js-stickybar-close\" aria-controls=\"stickybar\"> <svg class=\"icon icon--close\" width=\"21\" height=\"22\" viewBox=\"0 0 21 22\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"m.822.518-.805.805L9.695 11 .017 20.678l.805.805 9.678-9.678 9.677 9.678.806-.805L11.305 11l9.678-9.677-.806-.805-9.677 9.677L.822.518Z\" fill=\"currentColor\" \/><\/svg> <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Close<\/span> <\/button> <\/section>\n<article class=\"single-article content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__container js-single-article-content\">\n<header class=\"single-article__header \" readability=\"23.93112244898\">\n<div class=\"single-article__header-content\" readability=\"29.068702290076\">\n<ul class=\"single-article__eyebrow\">\n<li class=\"single-article__category\"> <a class=\"single-article__category-link\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/news\/cybersecurity\/\"> <span>Cybersecurity<\/span> <\/a> <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> State officials in Georgia have severed Coffee County\u2019s access to statewide election systems while the breach is being addressed. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"single-article__cover-wrap\">\n<figure class=\"single-article__cover\"> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/cyberattack-hits-georgia-county-at-center-of-voting-software-breach.jpg?resize=640%2C426&ssl=1\" class=\"single-article__cover-image wp-post-image\" alt decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/cyberattack-hits-georgia-county-at-center-of-voting-software-breach-1.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/cyberattack-hits-georgia-county-at-center-of-voting-software-breach-1.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, 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https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/cyberattack-hits-georgia-county-at-center-of-voting-software-breach-1.jpg?resize=1013,675 1013w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/cyberattack-hits-georgia-county-at-center-of-voting-software-breach-1.jpg?resize=1265,843 1265w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1013px) 100vw, 1013px\"><figcaption> Stickers sit on a table at a polling location on November 8, 2022 in Atlanta, United States. (Photo by Megan Varner\/Getty Images) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"single-article__content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__content-inner has-drop-cap\"> <html readability=\"33.22374720715\"><body readability=\"68.771515356058\"><\/p>\n<p>The computer infrastructure of a Georgia county at the center of an <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/georgia-election-officials-withheld-evidence-in-voting-machine-breach-group-alleges\/\">effort to falsely claim<\/a> that the state\u2019s 2020 presidential election was marked by fraud was struck by a cyberattack earlier this month that prompted state officials to sever Coffee County\u2019s access to statewide election systems. <\/p>\n<p>In a statement Friday, the Coffee County Board of Commissioners said that the county was notified by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on April 15 about unusual cyber activity in Coffee County\u2019s IT infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUpon examination, Coffee County\u2019s IT infrastructure showed no evidence of exfiltration of data\/files, but did indicate cyber-activity by an unknown malicious actor,\u201d the county board said, adding that it declared a cyber incident and took steps to secure its systems. <\/p>\n<p>The incident prompted state election officials to shut down Coffee County\u2019s access to Georgia\u2019s statewide voter registration system, known as GARViS, \u201cout of an abundance of caution,\u201d according to a notice sent by Georgia\u2019s Secretary of State\u2019s office obtained by CyberScoop. <\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Coffee County election officials were also \u201cbarred\u201d from accessing other state systems, including an election management suite known as ePulse, the election night reporting system and other state systems \u201cuntil the security threat is cleared,\u201d according to the note. <\/p>\n<p>The note added that there is no evidence \u201cthat this is an issue or attack impacting other counties, however attacks can be done sequentially, impacting one county, then another.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Georgia Secretary of State\u2019s office could not immediately be reached for comment. CISA referred questions about the incident back to Coffee County. <\/p>\n<p>The breach in Coffee County is the second incident in Georgia in which IT infrastructure has been breached in counties where former President Donald Trump or his allies are embroiled in legal battles related to his effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. <\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, Fulton County, Georgia, was <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/lockbit-comeback-less-than-a-week-after-major-disruption\/\">struck by a ransomware attack<\/a> believed to have been carried out by the Russian criminal gang known as LockBit. Prosecutors in Fulton County have indicted Trump alongside his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and his former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, for their attempts to change the outcome of the 2020 election. <\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In Coffee County, Trump allies are alleged to have unlawfully obtained voting machine software in what \u200b\u200bis considered one of the most serious breaches of voting equipment in recent memory. <\/p>\n<p>The extent of the cyberattack on Coffee County remains unclear, as is who was behind it. The number of impacted systems is also unclear, but some parts of Coffee County\u2019s website were down Thursday and Friday. County officials have been responding to public records requests this week by claiming the county archiver is down for maintenance.<\/p>\n<p><em>Tim Starks contributed reporting to this article.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><\/body> <\/p>\n<footer class=\"single-article__footer\" readability=\"0.36686390532544\">\n<div class=\"author-card\" readability=\"7\">\n<p><h4 class=\"author-card__name\">Written by Derek B. 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{"id":3306,"date":"2024-04-26T18:50:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T23:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/?p=80263"},"modified":"2024-04-26T18:50:00","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T23:50:00","slug":"cyberattack-hits-georgia-county-at-center-of-voting-software-breach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/2024\/04\/26\/cyberattack-hits-georgia-county-at-center-of-voting-software-breach\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyberattack hits Georgia county at center of voting software breach"},"content":{"rendered":"