COLUMBUS, Ohio — Columbus City Council wasted little time Monday evening during their first council meeting back after summer recess. 

What You Need To Know

  • Columbus City Council and the department of technology won't disclose many details regarding the cyberattack because it's an ongoing federal investigation

  • Every Monday, Columbus City Council will be discussing updates regarding the cyberattack 

  • In the coming weeks,council will hold public hearings to discuss in more detail with the community 

The department of technology was top of the agenda to explain what the future holds for Columbus residents after the cyberattack. Council said this is an ongoing federal investigation involving the FBI and Homeland security, and that they only know as much as the public. 

“We want to be very, very clear. It’s really simple. One, protect yourself. Stay informed and know that we are dedicated to safeguarding your interests and the interests of every resident and every employee,” said Columbus City Council member Nicholas Bankston. 

Bankston is the chair of the finance and governance committee. He said although they cannot disclose much now because of the investigation, every council meeting will be discussing this cyber security issue. 

“Council has a long-held practice of refraining from commenting on investigations to maintain their integrity. But with that, again, we will continue to push and make sure that we are getting information that is accurate and verifiable from the administration and those involved,” said Bankston. 

The Director the Department of Technology, Sam Orth, presented a briefing to start the city council meeting Monday evening. He said things are changing by the hour and Columbus is just one of many cities that’s unfortunately impacted by cybercrime. 

“As soon as we confirmed that personal data had been stolen and posted on the dark web, we took immediate action to offer support to those individuals we identified as likely having been affected,” said Orth. 

Bankston told reporters that the city has dealt with cyberattacks before but nothing of this magnitude. 

“We have torted it over 200,000 attacks just last year alone. We are constantly under attack every single year. This is one that our safeguards weren't able to protect us from. And so every single day we are working to make sure that we're protecting all of the data that the city has, but also making sure that we have some of the update security system to make sure that we are staying up against those threat actors that are happening,” said Bankston. 

According to council, the best way to protect your private information is to sign up for the free credit monitoring service and to not click on unusual links in your email. There will be a public hearing in the coming weeks for residents to express their concerns.

The department of technology also recommends signing up your child for the free credit monitoring service because cyberattacks can happen to anyone with a social security number. If you come across a weird email or phone message and don’t know what to do with it, you can screenshot that message and send it to abuse@columbus.gov.