Cyber breach in North Platte, Pillen signs emergency proclamation

Lincoln County officials are currently investigating a cyber breach impacting both the county and the city of North Platte. North Platte Emergency Management Director Brandon Myers released the following statement:

There has been a breach in the City of North Platte’s and Lincoln County’s system, which has been contained. Certain software has been shut down and removed from internet access as a precaution. This has widely affected internet and phone services for the City and County with some City and All County phones currently down. The North Platte Public Safety Building phones are operational, Lincoln County Sheriff’s office phones are down.

All emergency services remain up and working, to include the 911 system. There has been no breach to utility, bill paying or financial services in the City or County. All City and County financials are accounted for and secure. There has been no pertinent information found to be comprised. Public Transit is still operating, but their main phone has been transferred to a cell phone, so we ask for your patience.

We have State and Private sector cybersecurity experts currently assisting with this situation. Once we know that there are no other breaches to locate and contain, and all city and county systems are secured again, systems will come back on-line. A press release will be released at that time informing the public that all services are back.

For further media inquires please Brandon Myers, Emergency Management Director of North Platte and Lincoln County.

Its not being said yet if the incident was a cyber attack, but regardless Governor Jim Pillen signed an emergency proclamation authorizing the adjutant general to deploy the Nebraska National Guard Cyber Protection Team to support local jurisdictions.

“This team has the knowledge and specialized training to deal with situations like this. They stand ready to support our local county and city officials in identifying the cause of this outage and addressing necessary remedies,” said Gov. Pillen.

The Nebraska Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is coordinating with state and local partners to support the response and connect partners with resources and expertise as needed. NEMA will continue to support response and recovery efforts as the situation evolves.