Cleveland cyberattack: Impact on taxpayers remains a mystery 1 month after hacking

CLEVELAND (WJW) – The FOX 8 I-Team has found a mystery affecting residents one month after computer hackers shut down Cleveland City Hall.

The city says it still cannot answer whether or not the hackers got their hands on any of your personal information.

From the city website to the offices in city hall, things seem back to normal. A month has passed since computer hackers attacked city hall.

Yet, the I-Team can’t get an answer from the city to the question most important to folks like you. Did the hackers get any personal information about taxpayers or city workers?

On the southeast side, we caught up with activist Kathy McDonald.

“Oh, I’ve given it a lot of thought,” she said. “What did they get their hands on? Was it anything to do with the residents?”

Nonetheless, weeks after the cyber attack, the mayor’s office told us, “At this time, it is unclear what data was accessed by the threat actors. The investigation is ongoing.”

Taxpayers have been anxious to get a clear answer.

“Everything’s kind of hush-hush down there. They should be having answers by now,” McDonald added.

We went to Alex Hamerstone with TrustedSec, a Northeast Ohio-based cybersecurity company. We asked what we should know by now.

“It really varies as these can be complex incidents,” he said.

He told us the mystery around what did or didn’t happen with taxpayer information comes down to two possibilities.

“Is anything known at this point and not being shared for some reason? Part of the investigation or something like that? Or, is it not yet known? Could be either one,” Hamerstone said.

Remember, the city took a hit from a ransomware attack, but the city said it would not pay any ransom to the hackers.

Now, the mayor’s office says the investigation has “progressed” and it’s “ongoing.”

“You don’t always know right away. It can take a very long time to know what happened and what was accessed,” Hamerstone said.

“I still would like to know what happened,” McDonald said.

“The city’s restoration efforts are complete. All systems are restored at a 100% level. We have been and will continue to resolve instances where users are having issues accessing those systems on a case-by-case basis as they arise,” the mayor’s office said.

At this point, the city has not recommended taxpayers get into any sort of credit protection program.

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