Hackers say they’ve stolen 150GB of sensitive information. County officials remain tight-lipped as residents wonder if their personal data is at risk.
🚨 Why It Matters: Your personal information could be compromised if you’ve interacted with Cobb County services. This attack threatens to disrupt essential government functions that thousands of residents depend on daily.
🔍 What’s Happening: The Qilin ransomware gang publicly claimed responsibility yesterday for the March network breach that shut down Cobb County servers for a week.
- County officials previously acknowledged notifying only 10 people about compromised data
- Qilin posted sample documents allegedly stolen from county servers as proof of their claims
💻 Between the Lines: County services including courthouse filing, jail databases, and public Wi-Fi were disabled when IT staff detected unauthorized users. The county says it did not pay any money to the hackers.
🔄 Catch Up Quick: Qilin operates as a Russia-based “ransomware-as-a-service” business that launched in 2022.
- The group has claimed 17 confirmed attacks in 2025 alone
- Other government victims include West Haven, CT; Palau Ministry of Health; and Cleveland Municipal Court
🌐 The Big Picture: Ransomware attacks against U.S. government entities are surging, with 19 confirmed incidents already this year. These attacks can cripple essential services for weeks or months while putting residents’ personal information at risk of fraud.
B.T. Clark
B.T. Clark is an award-winning journalist and the Publisher of The Georgia Sun. He has 25 years of experience in journalism and served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta for 15 years and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc. for 8 years. His work has appeared in several newspapers throughout the state including Neighbor Newspapers, The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal. He is a Georgia native and a fifth-generation Georgian.
