Sheriff Austin Garrett said systems at the Sheriff's Department were closed down Monday morning after "an attempted unauthorized access to HCSO systems."
He said, “This morning, at approximately 6:30 a.m., the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) detected an unauthorized attempt to access our network systems from an external source. In response, and out of an abundance of caution, our Information Technology team immediately initiated a full system shutdown to protect the integrity of our infrastructure and safeguard sensitive data and records.
"As a result, several of our external services to the public and resources are temporarily unavailable, including our official website, public access to mugshots, press releases, warrant search page, tip-line, and various features of the Sheriff’s App. It is undetermined at this time when these services will resume.
"Rest assured, as always, your Sheriff’s Office continues to function and we will continue, through our continuity of services, to provide the highest level of law enforcement and corrections services available.
"As stated earlier, this attempted access is under investigation by the HCSO and our state and federal partners.”