OHIO — Overseas cybercriminals and potential foreign state actors took the Ohio Auditor of State’s Office web server offline on Sunday after a cyberattack.
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Ohio Auditor of State Keith Faber announced that threat monitoring systems detected and immediately quarantined the intrusion, prompting officials to disconnect the web server and online accounts as a precaution.
State and federal law enforcement authorities were notified of the breach and are investigating.
Faber confirmed this was not a ransomware attack and that all office data remains secure due to existing system backups.
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Faber confirmed that the office’s backup systems were unaffected, allowing officials to retain all operational data.
Based on the targeted files, officials found no evidence that the personal financial information of state residents was compromised.
Furthermore, financial records for audited public entities—including state agencies, counties, cities, villages and school districts—were not believed to be at risk.
Payments made to the Auditor of State’s Office are processed through a separate state government portal and are not stored on the main web server.
However, because audit clients may encounter issues processing online payments, the office established a grace period for payments until further notice.
Day-to-day auditing operations are continuing without the web server while state and federal law enforcement agencies work to identify those responsible.
In the coming days, the office plans to launch a temporary web platform to communicate with the public and government organizations while internal and external experts investigate the attack and prepare to bring the permanent server back online.
@2026 Cox Media Group
