Fulton County leaders say one wrong click by employee led to early 2024 ransomware attack [Video]

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – On Friday, Fulton County leaders revealed new details of the ransomware attack that plagued the county in early 2024.

Kevin Kerrigan, the county’s chief information officer, said human error was responsible for the breach.

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“Someone clicked on something they shouldn’t, with elevated rights that allowed them (the suspected cybercriminals) to get a foothold into our environment and then move through it to then take over and compromise core components of our infrastructure,” said Kerrigan.

The county did not name the individual or the department where the individual worked.

“With this employee, they did have elevated rights, which allowed that bad actor to have more visibility into our infrastructure and take more administrative actions than someone with a reduced role within our environment,” Kerrigan said.

Since the incident, Kerrigan said the county has …