A cyberattack discovered on Sunday disrupted critical operations across Nevada’s state government, forcing the closure of all state offices to the public for two days. Key systems—including phone lines, websites, eligibility and case management platforms for public assistance programs, and licensing services—were knocked offline. The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) canceled appointments, requiring walk-ins for two weeks, while the Department of Human Services halted new enrollments for public assistance due to inoperable systems. Payment processing was disabled in many departments, forcing manual workarounds like paper-based crop inspections and hotspot-dependent lab operations in the Department of Agriculture. Though payroll remained unaffected, the attack crippled constituent-facing services, including Medicaid coordination (though core systems stayed operational), business licensing, teacher certifications, and museum operations. Federal agencies, including CISA and the FBI, intervened with threat hunting and incident response grants, but recovery efforts remained ongoing as of mid-week, with no confirmation of ransomware involvement or attribution to a specific hacking group. The attack underscored broader criticisms of CISA’s reduced support for state-level cybersecurity, coinciding with similar incidents in Minnesota, Maryland, Ohio, and Texas.
Source: https://therecord.media/cisa-steps-nevada-cyber-state
TPRM report: https://www.rankiteo.com/company/state-of-nevada-department-of-administration
"id": "sta519082825",
"linkid": "state-of-nevada-department-of-administration",
"type": "Cyber Attack",
"date": "8/2025",
"severity": "100",
"impact": "5",
"explanation": "Attack threatening the organization’s existence"{'affected_entities': [{'customers_affected': 'Residents and businesses '
'relying on state services '
'(e.g., DMV, public assistance, '
'licensing, agriculture permits)',
'industry': 'Public Administration',
'location': 'Nevada, USA',
'name': 'State of Nevada Government',
'type': 'State Government'},
{'customers_affected': 'Public assistance program '
'applicants',
'industry': 'Health and Human Services',
'location': 'Nevada, USA',
'name': 'Nevada Department of Human Services',
'type': 'Government Agency'},
{'customers_affected': 'Farmers, ranchers, and '
'businesses requiring crop '
'inspections or animal disease '
'lab services',
'industry': 'Agriculture',
'location': 'Nevada, USA',
'name': 'Nevada Department of Agriculture',
'type': 'Government Agency'},
{'customers_affected': 'Residents with scheduled '
'appointments (cancelled)',
'industry': 'Transportation',
'location': 'Nevada, USA',
'name': 'Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)',
'type': 'Government Agency'},
{'customers_affected': 'Patients relying on district '
'office services',
'industry': 'Healthcare',
'location': 'Nevada, USA',
'name': 'Nevada Health Authority',
'type': 'Government Agency'},
{'customers_affected': 'Visitors (temporary closures)',
'industry': 'Arts and Culture',
'location': 'Nevada, USA',
'name': 'State-run Museums',
'type': 'Public Institution'}],
'customer_advisories': ['DMV appointments cancelled; walk-ins honored for two '
'weeks',
'Public assistance enrollments paused (Department of '
'Human Services)',
'Card payments unavailable (cash or alternative '
'methods required)',
'State museums temporarily closed'],
'date_detected': '2023-10-08T00:00:00Z',
'date_publicly_disclosed': '2023-10-11T00:00:00Z',
'description': 'Federal officials, including CISA and the FBI, are assisting '
"Nevada's state government in recovering from a cyberattack "
'discovered on Sunday. The attack disrupted critical services, '
'including state office operations, public assistance '
'enrollments, licensing services, and payment systems. Many '
'departments experienced outages, with phone lines and '
'websites still down as of Wednesday. The state is '
'prioritizing the restoration of essential services while '
'using manual workarounds. No ransomware group has claimed '
'responsibility, and the attack did not affect the state’s '
'payroll system. CISA deployed threat hunting teams and '
'assisted Nevada in accessing FEMA incident response grants. '
'The incident coincides with broader criticism of CISA for '
'reducing support to state and local governments, particularly '
'in election security and cyber threat mitigation.',
'impact': {'brand_reputation_impact': ['Public disruption of state services',
"Criticism of CISA's reduced support "
'for state/local governments'],
'customer_complaints': ['Cancelled DMV appointments',
'Inability to process public assistance '
'enrollments',
'Unavailable card payment options'],
'downtime': {'affected_services': ['In-person state office '
'services (closed 2023-10-09 '
'and 2023-10-10)',
'Public assistance enrollments '
'(Department of Human Services)',
'Card payments (multiple '
'departments)',
'Online licensing services '
'(teachers, businesses)',
'DMV appointments (cancelled, '
'converted to walk-ins)',
'State-run museums (closed '
'temporarily)'],
'duration_days': 'Ongoing (as of 2023-10-11)',
'end': None,
'start': '2023-10-08T00:00:00Z'},
'operational_impact': ['State offices closed to public for two '
'days (2023-10-09 and 2023-10-10)',
'Government workers on paid leave '
'(2023-10-09)',
'Manual processing of permits (Department '
'of Agriculture)',
'Limited operations at Nevada Health '
'Authority district offices',
'Temporary paper and hotspot systems for '
'crop inspections',
'DMV appointments cancelled (honored as '
'walk-ins for two weeks)',
'Fees waived for services affected by '
'outages'],
'payment_information_risk': ['Card payment systems offline '
'(potential exposure risk '
'unconfirmed)'],
'systems_affected': ['State office networks',
'Phone lines',
'Department websites',
'Eligibility and case management systems '
'(Department of Human Services)',
'Licensing systems',
'Payment processing systems',
'Crop inspection and animal disease lab '
'systems (Department of Agriculture)',
'DMV appointment systems',
'Museum operational systems']},
'investigation_status': 'Ongoing (CISA and FBI leading investigation as of '
'2023-10-11)',
'references': [{'date_accessed': '2023-10-11T00:00:00Z',
'source': 'Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency '
'(CISA) Statement'},
{'date_accessed': '2023-10-11T00:00:00Z',
'source': "Governor Joe Lombardo's Office"},
{'date_accessed': '2023-10-11T00:00:00Z',
'source': 'Nevada Health Authority'},
{'date_accessed': '2023-10-11T00:00:00Z',
'source': 'Nevada Department of Human Services'},
{'date_accessed': '2023-10-01T00:00:00Z',
'source': 'Criticism of CISA Support Reduction (Arizona '
"Senators' Letter)"}],
'regulatory_compliance': {'regulatory_notifications': ['Potential '
'notifications to '
'federal agencies '
'(e.g., CISA, FBI)']},
'response': {'communication_strategy': ['Public statements by Governor Joe '
'Lombardo',
'Updates on service disruptions and '
'workarounds',
'Assurance of payroll system '
'integrity'],
'incident_response_plan_activated': True,
'law_enforcement_notified': True,
'recovery_measures': ['Rebuilding affected systems',
'Restoring phone lines and websites '
'(ongoing as of 2023-10-11)',
'Reopening state offices to the public (by '
'end of week, as planned)',
'Resuming in-person licensing services'],
'remediation_measures': ['Deployment of CISA threat hunting '
'teams',
'Manual workarounds (e.g., paper '
'systems, hotspots for Department of '
'Agriculture)',
'Prioritization of critical services '
'for restoration',
'Waiving fees for services disrupted by '
'outages',
'Honoring cancelled DMV appointments as '
'walk-ins for two weeks'],
'third_party_assistance': [{'organization': 'Cybersecurity and '
'Infrastructure '
'Security Agency '
'(CISA)',
'role': ['Threat hunting',
'Incident investigation',
'System rebuilding support',
'FEMA grant access '
'facilitation']},
{'organization': 'Federal Bureau of '
'Investigation (FBI)',
'role': 'Investigation'},
{'organization': 'Federal Emergency '
'Management Agency '
'(FEMA)',
'role': 'Incident response grants'}]},
'stakeholder_advisories': ['State employees (return to work with manual '
'processes)',
'Residents (service disruptions, DMV appointment '
'changes)',
'Businesses (licensing and payment system '
'outages)'],
'title': 'Cyberattack on Nevada State Government Systems',
'type': ['Cyberattack', 'Potential Ransomware (unconfirmed)']}