1 year after cyber attack: Nevada strengthens defenses with new tools

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) -- It's been one year since a crippling cyberattack disrupted state services across Nevada, leaving thousands unable to get the help they needed. It took nearly a month to get it all under control, starting at the end of August, with repercussions lasting through September 2025.

Today, Nevada said changes have been made to strengthen the state's cybersecurity defenses.

"It's been quite the year. We've been incredibly busy," Chief Information Officer of the Governor's Technology Office, Tim Galluzi, told 8 News Now.

When asked if there have been threats since, he responded, "Yes, absolutely. I wouldn't say threats at the same level, but attempts. We've been able to squash those attempts pretty rapidly."

He credits new tools for helping prevent another attack of that magnitude, for instance, roughly $14 million in cybersecurity investments.

"Those other changes, really, it was enterprise hardening," he said. "We took a look at how we were dealing with logins internally, what required multi-factor authentication, and we really tightened a lot of that up."

That tightening includes a new third-party review process for cloud-based technology, as well as a statewide system for classifying data.

"Each agency was effectively maintaining their own data protections, right? But we didn't have one set of tiers," he explained.

Fast forward to today, he said data is standardized into four categories: public, sensitive, confidential, and restricted.

According to Galluzi, the biggest change isn't technology; it's awareness.

"Regardless of what an organization spends on technology, we are all potential victims," he said.

The Governor's Technology Office revealed in an after-action report that Nevada decided not to pay the ransom demanded by the 2025 hackers. However, the response still cost the state $1.3 million in outside vendor support, which the report says was cheaper than the ransom.