Sources: FBI and Homeland Security offering ‘support’ as City of Jacksonville deals with computer network issue

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Action News Jax Ben Becker has learned from sources that the FBI and Homeland Security sat in on an Emergency Operations Center meeting Friday as computer network issues within the City of Jacksonville persisted for a third straight day.

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Becker learned the agencies are providing “support” as the city leaders met at the EOC to work through connection and internet slowness issues that have plagued both external and internal city systems, as the city has said it’s not the victim of a cyber-attack or a hack.

The city announced late Friday that services were restored and there were currently no issues at the following agencies:

• City of Jacksonville: Services are restored. Currently no issues.
• JFRD: Services are restored. Currently no issues.
• Tax Collector: Services are restored. Currently no issues.
• 4th Judicial Circuit Court: Services are restored. Currently no issues.
• Clerk of the Court: Services are restored. Currently no issues.
• Property Appraiser: Services are restored. Currently no issues.
• Supervisor of Elections: Services are restored. Currently no issues.
• State Attorney’s Office: Services are restored. Currently no issues.

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However, the city said while the office network is up at the Public Defender’s Office, troubleshooting continues. Some external services remain impacted.

On Friday morning, the Duval County Tax Collector’s Office announced it could not process tags and titles.

Becker is told by sources despite the announcement by the city, some departments still have problems and there will be virtual EOC meetings this weekend if the problems continue.

It’s been unclear as to what originally caused the computer outages. On Wednesday, the city said it was related to “configuration issues.” Then on Thursday, Becker learned from sources at the EOC meeting, that a vendor issue was cited, and then on Friday the city blamed “failure of a piece of hardware.”

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Action News Jax first reported Wednesday that the city said there was no indication of a cyber-attack or security breach as it began to experience intermittent network issues resulting in citizens possibly not gaining access jacksonville.gov, jaxready.com, calls to 630-CITY, JaxEPICS, or any city mobile apps.

Becker reported Thursday that leaders were told at an EOC meeting not to discuss the internal problems publicly, prior to Becker discovering technical troubles across city government including the Duval County Courthouse being relegated to using paper to process casework. The mayor’s office said “it’s completely not true” it tried to keep the computer issues a secret.

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