The City of Middletown continues work to restore systems after the recent cybersecurity event. As of Monday, October 27, we have restored phone systems, Wi- Fi and city email accounts. While residents are welcomed to call us with any needs moving forward, we ask for continued patience and understanding as we expect a higher volume of calls and are still working with backup processes in some cases.
We have updated the FAQ below to address our progress. We will continue to provide updates as our work progresses.
1. What happened?
In mid-August, the City of Middletown experienced a cybersecurity incident. We quickly shut down affected services and brought in third-party specialists to help us to securely restore them, and to help us investigate the matter.
2. What is the impact on city services?
As of October 27, we have started to restore systems using a phased approach. Phone systems, Wi-Fi and city email accounts have now been restored. We will update residents when additional services are fully restored. In the meantime, we continue to serve residents using backup processes where needed. Utility billing is currently unable to curate new bills. No utility shutoffs will occur at this time. Once the City is fully back online, utility billing and finance will begin to process new bills. In-person payments for bills issued before the cybersecurity incident can still be made in the lobby of the Middletown City Building, or customers can pay directly online through InvoiceCloud, subject to normal credit card fees.
3. Can you provide a timeline for systems restoration?
Not yet, though we are making progress in our phased restoration of systems, including the restoration of phone systems, Wi-Fi and city email accounts. We will update residents as services are fully restored.
4. Why is it taking so long to restore services?
We are working diligently to fully and securely restore our network as quickly as possible.
5. Can I access court records?
Yes, the court is able to assist residents with in-person court record searches.
6. Can the police department provide fingerprint-based criminal background checks?
We are unable to complete fingerprint-based criminal background checks at this time, but these checks can be requested from county sheriff’s departments and other state and federal agencies.
7. Was resident data affected?
The investigation into this incident remains ongoing with the assistance of third-party specialists. It is not yet known what resident personal information, if any, may have been affected. We can assure you that our investigation is focused on determining what information may have been affected and to whom that information relates. These types of investigations are complex and time-consuming, but we are working diligently to complete it as soon as possible. Based on the results of the investigation, we will take appropriate actions to notify and support any affected individuals.
8. What specific information was affected?
As our investigation is ongoing, we are unable to provide that information at this time.
9. How can the City still accept utility bill payments while it can’t access account information?
The third-party service that we use to process payments is not affected by the current situation. The City curates utility bills in-house, then sends them to a vendor, InvoiceCloud, to facilitate payments. InvoiceCloud can still accept payments for all bills that were sent prior to the outage. Tellers at City Hall’s Utility Billing window can also access InvoiceCloud, so residents can continue to make payments for outstanding bills in person as well. Account changes will be made and outstanding utility bills will be processed once City servers are restored.
10. Will there be a grace period for residents to pay outstanding bills that have piled up during the outage?
Yes. We plan to provide a grace period for payment of bills issued after systems are restored.
11. Have you notified law enforcement?
Yes, we are coordinating with law enforcement at the federal, state and local levels as we investigate this matter.
12. Who is responsible for the attack?
As our investigation is ongoing, we are unable to provide additional information at this time.
13. Has any identity theft occurred as a result of this?
We have seen no evidence to date of any data being used for fraudulent purposes.