MACON, Ga. — Nearly three weeks ago, Macon-Bibb County officials noticed unusual activity on their servers. The county IT department shut its network down to find out what the problem was.
The shutdown impacted most county offices and their work. Three weeks in, some offices are still feeling the effects — but the county still hasn't said much about what could be causing the problem. In the early days following the breach, County Manager Keith Moffett called it an "attack," but since then, they've called it a "possible data breach."
That same week, people leaving the tax commissioner's office said they were "frustrated" when they couldn't get business done there. Things are different now.
Friday, everyone leaving the office said they had no problems. The county says you can pay most of your bills, including those paid to that office. Property tax bills and car tag renewals are up and running at their office. You can also apply for a business license.
On the county site, you can pay your garbage and water bills.
At the Bibb County Sheriff's Office, there are problems with the central records division. That means you cannot request incident reports or other records. Their online inmate search is also down.
The sheriff's office says you can still make a report online, bond someone out of jail and use the online sex offender registry.
Everything at the Macon-Bibb County Board of Elections is business as usual. They're on a different system from the rest of the county. Since they use a lot of state systems, you can still register to vote, get your sample ballot and find your polling location.
Spokesman Chris Floore says restoring public county websites has been a top priority. Two weeks ago, 90% of the county website was back up. Now, you can search for and bid on county projects through the site.
The courts are still having some trouble with their system. Right now, you cannot make an appointment for a marriage license or weapons permit online. The county says if you can't access an online service, call the office you need and they'll help you.
Floore says another priority was making sure county staff got paid. He says they made payroll successfully the week of the outage and did it again Friday.