Dec 30, 2022
No recording for now. A sign on the door of Columbiana County Recorder Jim Armeni Sr.’s office indicates no recording of documents can be done at this time. Armeni said Thursday that a security breach on Christmas Day at an off-site data center containing Recorder’s Office records led the software vendor to shut down the software system. No other county offices are affected. (Salem News photo by Mary Ann Greier)
LISBON — Attorneys, title company workers and citizens trying to record documents before 2022 ends found they can’t for now thanks to a security breach affecting the Columbiana County Recorder’s office.
No other Columbiana County offices or servers are affected.
County Recorder Jim Armeni Sr. announced the issue Thursday, posting a note on the door of his office and posting a press release on the office website in an effort to notify everyone, along with contacting the local press.
According to Armeni, he received notification on Monday from Cott, the software vendor for the recorder’s office, that a security threat had been detected on Christmas Day. He said the situation is also affecting the recorder’s offices in Lorain, Portage, Delaware, Knox, Ashtabula and Morrow counties, along with other companies and government agencies in other states.
Cott Systems provides the software used by the recorder’s office to process documents. During Cott’s routine maintenance of the system over the weekend, Armeni said unusual activity was noticed so Cott shut down all servers and connections to their clients, including the recorder’s office.
The breach reportedly occurred at an off-site data center containing the recorder’s office data. On Wednesday, Armeni said he received confirmation that the issue was a cyber attack affecting multiple agencies that use the data center. In the press release, he said the breach is under investigation by both Homeland Security and the FBI.
“This is the world we’re living in and it reached us,” he said.
Since Tuesday when the office reopened after the Christmas holiday, no recording has taken place. The office cannot access any already recorded documents, no new documents can be recorded and no cash or credit card payments can be taken.
“All we can do is time date and stamp the documents,” Armeni said.
Only payments by check can be accepted, with everything being kept in a fireproof, secure file cabinet until the system is back up. As soon as they receive the go-ahead from the software provider, he said they’ll be recording those documents that couldn’t be recorded.
Deputy Recorder Tina Frantz said they aren’t permitted to back-date the documents, so the date when the documents are finally processed will be the date they become official.
For real estate professionals or others trying to record documents, Armeni said “it messes them up.” He contacted attorneys and title companies to make them aware of the situation which can affect deeds and mortgages, trusts and Limited Liability Corporations.
He doesn’t know yet if information in the recorder’s office system was compromised.
Ben Black, chief deputy systems administrator for the county Clerk of Courts office, stressed that “none of our county infrastructure has been affected. The Clerk of Courts data center was not breached.”
The software used by the recorder’s office is separate from other county systems. Black said the servers used by the Clerk of Courts office are on the premises in the courthouse and were not compromised.
“This is our biggest fear for any IT administrator,” Black said regarding a breach.
He assists the recorder’s office with hardware issues and has been trying to answer questions from Armeni regarding the breach.
Armeni said the bulk of the phone calls his office is getting are people trying to gain access on the website and wondering what’s wrong.
“So far people have been understanding,” he said, with Frantz adding, “it’s out of our control.”
The software provider didn’t provide a timeline for how soon service will be restored.
“We apologize for this inconvenience, and we will release more information as we are notified by our vendor,” Armeni said in the notice.
The office is expected to be open regular hours today, with the courthouse and county offices closed Jan. 2 for the New Year’s holiday.
mgreier@mojonews.com
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