Nevada governor addresses statewide cyberattack

By Liam Hibbert
The Center Square

Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo spoke publicly for the first time on a cyberattack that shut down government websites and kept state employees at home, four days after it was discovered.

The hour-long press conference included top Nevada officials who outlined more plans to work around the cyberattack, but no identity or motive was revealed for the attackers.

The state is still working to get government websites and system back up and running, with no date yet to be set for a full return to functionality.

”As you know, over the last several days, our state has been responding to a cyberattack targeting Nevada’s systems,” Lombardo told reporters Thursday. “While this incident has posed challenges, I want Nevadans to know one thing clearly. Our government and our partners acted quickly and effectively to secure the critical services our communities rely on.”

Websites and services across the state were shut down for the days following the cyberattack. Some had returned to basic function by the end of the week, but many state websites and offices were were still not fully operational. The Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles was still unable to accept payments early Friday, with the agency saying that late fees would be waived.

The attack, which was caught on early Sunday, was not publicly addressed until Tuesday evening.

“We didn’t know what was affected in the early infancy of this,” said Lombardo when asked why the state waited to address the cyberattack.

“ As we respond and mitigate and continue to evaluate, I couldn’t give you answers …,” the Republican governor said. “The only thing we were aware of was there was an intrusion.”

Lombardo and other state officials declined to elaborate on the identity of the attacker, for fear of obstructing an ongoing investigation into the cyberattack.

“ Over the last several days, too much of the coverage has been focused on the attackers,” Lombardo said. “I assure you the investigation is ongoing and progressing. It’s frustrating, I understand, but a lot of that information is confidential.”

Earlier in the Thursday press conference, Lombardo thanked the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for helping with the investigation.