Short-staffing in Cleveland IT department before city computer hack: I-Team

CLEVELAND (WJW) — The FOX 8 I-Team has uncovered more short-staffing in the unit you depend on to keep city of Cleveland computer systems running.

This comes to light with city hall closed to the public for days by a computer hack the city has confirmed as a ransomware attack.

Monday, we saw more taxpayers turned away at Cleveland City Hall. The building is closed to the public for the start of a second week due to computer hackers demanding the city pay a ransom.

Now, the I-Team has found the city IT department is short-staffed by 10%.

This comes to light after we revealed, earlier, the chief innovation and technology officer had resigned at the beginning of April. We also found a city job description floating around on the internet for a Cybersecurity Architect Manager. Someone to conduct “risk assessments and identification of potential security incidents. “

The mayor’s office tells us that job was, in fact, filled. However, as we reported this story, human resources couldn’t get into its system to tell us more due to the cyber attack.

When the City’s head of innovation and technology resigned, he told the mayor, in a letter, the time had come to make a change. For this story, we wondered what he’d tell us about the city getting hacked. He sent us a text saying he doesn’t have any information on what’s happening with the computer systems.

We turned to Alex Hamerstone with TrustedSec, a Northeast Ohio-based cybersecurity company. He told us, cities and companies struggle with keeping computer systems running and protected.

“Being short on manpower can be a challenge,” Hamerstone said. “So, if you have people that are working every day to make sure these systems work, they’re effective and operational, it doesn’t leave a lot of time to, kind of, secure these systems as well.”

And, he said, “It’ll be interesting to see what comes out of this. When it comes to an incident, the best time to prepare is before it happens.”

Meantime we found taxpayers caught in the middle as they were turned away from city hall.

“Hopefully, it’ll be up and running again soon. The IT Department is vital. You need to get that going,” one told us.

Another said, “We want the service. Now, we gotta drive all around the city to get what we need.”

Late Monday, the city announced city hall will remain closed to the public on Tuesday as a result of the computer attack.

A news release said offered the following:

Despite the temporary closure of City Hall, essential city services, including Public Safety, waste collection, recreation centers, operations at the airport, Cleveland Public Power, Water and Water Pollution Control, are functioning and operating normally to ensure the continued well-being and safety of our residents.

Residents who are requesting birth or death certificates are encouraged to submit applications online by visiting the Ohio Department of Health here.

If residents prefer to request a copy in person, Parma and Lakewood city halls can assist with birth certificates for births that occurred in Ohio.

Applications for certain permits are accessible online. Those include:

· Building and Housing permit applications and Certificate of Disclosures are here

– Visit here for instructions on using Accela Citizen Access.

– Lead Certificates – follow instructions here.

We thank the public for their patience and understanding during this challenging time. City Hall remains committed to ensuring the security and integrity of our systems and services as we continue to recover from the cyber attacks. “