Cyber Incident Victim: Adams County Sheriff's Office
Date:
May 2023
Location:
United States of America
Summary
The Adams County Sheriff's Office experienced a ransomware attack impacting its emergency communications systems (ADCOM911), causing operational disruptions. The agency activated backup procedures to maintain critical services while initiating an investigation with law enforcement and cybersecurity partners to address the incident.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 1 motive | 1 technique |
| Threat Actors | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 0 actors | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
On May 4, 2023, the Adams County Sheriff's Office publicly disclosed a ransomware incident impacting ADCOM911, the regional emergency communications center serving Adams County and surrounding municipalities. The attack disrupted critical public safety systems, forcing the immediate offline removal of computer-aided dispatch (CAD) and records management systems (RMS). These platforms normally facilitate emergency call processing, resource coordination, and law enforcement data access. While 911 call-taking remained operational through manual procedures, the disruption significantly degraded dispatch efficiency and first responder coordination capabilities. The sheriff's office confirmed the incident caused measurable delays in emergency response times due to reliance on paper-based backups and verbal communications between dispatchers and field units. Non-emergency administrative functions, including public records requests and internal reporting systems, experienced prolonged outages.
The Adams County Sheriff's Office initiated a coordinated response involving multiple law enforcement agencies and cybersecurity professionals to investigate the intrusion and restore systems. No specific threat actor group or ransom demands were disclosed in the initial public statement. Recovery efforts prioritized reinstating CAD/RMS functionality to minimize risks to public safety operations. During the outage, the sheriff's office issued advisories urging residents to reserve 911 calls for life-threatening emergencies only and provided alternative non-emergency contact numbers for routine inquiries. The disruption underscored the operational vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure dependencies on interconnected digital systems during cyber incidents. The sheriff's office maintained public updates through its official website while continuing recovery operations throughout the immediate aftermath of the attack.