Motor vehicle operations also running again in wake of cyberattack
The Unified Government has restored online services for some Treasury Department services, according to a news release on Monday.
Residents can now pay their property taxes before the May 10 property tax deadline, according to the UG news release. Service was restored on April 30 for online property tax payments, a spokesman stated in the release.
The UG’s treasury department now has been restored to full operations, the release stated.
Last week, the Kansas Department of Revenue restored UG access to Kansas Department of Revenue systems after a cyberattack against the UG on the weekend of April 16-17.
Last week, UG treasury staff members were able to process backlogged transactions and start taking appointments last Friday, a spokesman stated.
The UG treasury department now has the ability to take appointments for new vehicle title registration services, according to a spokesman. Because of an increased number of submitted online renewals, treasury staff are alerting customers that the processing time may take up to 48 hours, rather than 24 hours that it usually takes. More treasury department information is at wycokck.org/treasury.
More information released on cybersecurity attack on UG
Mayor Tyrone Garner held a news conference on Friday with updates about the cybersecurity attack on the Unified Government.
The UG website was hit by a cybersecurity attack on April 16-17 over a holiday weekend, affecting operations at several departments.
The FBI was called in the day it was discovered to investigate the cyberattack, according to the mayor’s news conference, along with local authorities. The UG is fully cooperating with authorities, he said.
Mayor Garner said at the news conference Friday that the rapid response of the Department of Technology Services quickly contained the cyberattack. The UG felt the impact of the cyberattack but has avoided the worst case outcomes that could have been realized, he said. There have been no further attacks since that holiday weekend.
“But the work is still in progress to restore services to the level the community has come to expect,” he said.
Police, fire and dispatch services were never affected, he said.
The situation was still fluid on Friday and the UG was continuing to assess the scope of the attack, he said, and they continued to take measures to mitigate impacts on the UG and the services it provides residents.
Cheryl Harrison-Lee, interim county administrator, said at the Friday news conference that motor vehicle services that were temporarily suspended by the state had been restored. Also restored were some state health services, she said.
Most UG departments maintained normal operations, but a few had to have systems rebuilt, according to Harrison-Lee.
It is a top priority to restore services and keep residents’ data safe, she said.
Both Garner and Harrison-Lee complimented the work of UG staff who have been striving to contain the attack and identify impacts to the UG.
According to the UG’s website information on Monday, the scheduled delinquent property tax sale was delayed and a new date for it will be announced in the future.
Updates about other UG services affected by the cyberattack are at https://www.wycokck.org/Engage-With-Us/News-articles/UG-Cybersecurity-Attack.