Silver State goes dark as cyberattack knocks Nevada websites offline

Phone lines also down as officials rely on social media to issue updates

The state of Nevada is now two days into a cyberattack that has brought down many of its digital services.

The Office of Governor Joseph Lombardo announced the attack via social media on Monday, saying that a "network security incident" took hold in the early hours of August 24.

Official state websites remain unavailable, and Lombardo's office warned that phone lines will be intermittently down, although emergency services lines remain operational.

State offices are also closed until further notice, including Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) buildings.

The state said any missed appointments will be honored on a walk-in basis.

"The Office of the Governor and Governor's Technology Office (GTO) are working continuously with state, local, tribal, and federal partners to restore services safely," the announcement read.

"GTO is using temporary routing and operational workarounds to maintain public access where it is feasible. Additionally, GTO is validating systems before returning them to normal operation and sharing updates as needed."

Local media outlets are reporting that, further to the original announcement, state offices will remain closed on Tuesday after officials previously expected them to reopen.

Lombardo's office did not specify the nature of the attack, but round-the-clock recovery protocols are engaged.

There is currently no evidence to suggest that any Nevadans' personal information was compromised during the attack, but locals have been put on alert for "unsolicited" calls, emails, or texts asking for information or payments.

With this attack, experts recruited for the state's new cybersecurity office will be facing their first big test since spinning up last month.

Nevada's CIO, Timothy Galluzi, opened the Office of Information Security & Cyber Defense on July 1 with the goal of centralizing statewide cyber operations, appointing Adam Miller as deputy director.

The office's primary goals include developing vulnerability-management programs and coordinating incident response with the relevant federal agencies.

Like other official channels, its website is also unavailable at the time of writing. ®