DeKalb’s COVID-19 rent assistance program targeted in cyberattack

DeKalb’s COVID-19 rental assistance program was targeted during a recent “international cyberattack,” county officials announced late Thursday.

According a press release, the targets of an attempted data breach on March 24 included a server affiliated with the county’s Tenant-Landlord Assistance Coalition program, a $21-million initiative aimed at helping renters and landlord prevent evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Emails and applications previously sent to the program at renthelp@dekalbcountyga.gov were included on the server.

Officials said the county disabled that email account and disconnected the targeted server within five minutes of identifying the cyberattack, and that they are “currently unaware of any actual compromise or misuse of customers’ information.”

A criminal investigation is underway, though, and the county is working with law enforcement to “determine what, if any, information may have been accessed.”

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