Cabarrus County

Profile narrative

Cabarrus County is a public county entity in North Carolina whose confirmed public-facing functions include Register of Deeds services. The organisation serves members of the public who need access to official records and related recording processes. Its Register of Deeds provides public access to land records and to indexes of births, deaths, and marriages. The office also handles in-person document recording and other routine tasks when online services are unavailable. Electronic recordings remain part of its service set. Online marriage applications are also identified as a functional county service. These services place the county in the local government sector, with responsibilities centered on maintaining and providing access to public records. The available material does not provide a broader catalogue of county departments, programs, population served, budget, staffing, or geographic footprint beyond identifying it as Cabarrus County in North Carolina.

The organisation's documented history includes exposure to cyber and fraud incidents affecting public operations and finances. In 2023, a cybersecurity incident involving a Greensboro-based vendor disrupted certain online services for the Register of Deeds. During that event, public access to land records and indexes of births, deaths, and marriages was taken offline. The Register of Deeds office continued normal in-person document recording and other tasks, while electronic recordings and online marriage applications remained functional. County IT personnel temporarily severed internal vendor connections and monitored network activity as precautionary measures. No other county services were reported as compromised in the incident. In 2019, Cabarrus County suffered a business email compromise scam in which attackers impersonated a construction contractor involved in a high school project. Fraudulent emails used seemingly legitimate documentation to redirect a vendor payment, resulting in a reported $1.7 million financial loss after partial recovery and insurance coverage. The county used emergency funds to cover the remaining shortfall for legitimate contractor payments, and the FBI became involved in the investigation. These incidents show that the organisation manages both public record services and public-project financial obligations, and that it has had to respond to vendor-related cyber and payment fraud risks.

Incidents

2 incidents linked to this organisation.