Cyber attack shuts down Raleigh Housing Authority computer system

State and federal authorities are continuing to work with the Raleigh Housing Authority (RHA) after a cyber attack crashed their computer systems and compromised their business operations.

Less than three weeks into his tenure as CEO of the Raleigh Housing Authority, Ashley Lommers-Johnson is dealing with a ransomware attack on their computer systems.

As of May 9, a National Guard cybersecurity team is still on site working to repair the system. RHA is planning to return to regular operations by mid-May.

The attack became public Thursday afternoon, May 4.

"At 7:30 a.m. this morning, members of our team learned we were locked out of our computer system by a threat actor making a cyber attack," Lommers-Johnson said. "We immediately notified state and federal authorities, met with Emergency Management, and currently have the National Guard cyber security team on-site investigating any potential data breach."

Lommers-Johnson says they are staying in front of this and trying to find out what happened.

"We don't know the extent of the breach. We don't know a whole lot," Lommers-Johnson said.

A team of 7 national guard cyber security experts was deployed to the Raleigh Housing Authority office after being notified by an employee not being able to log in but instead seeing a number listed to call.

"We don't really have a timeline. It all depends on when this occurred, what's affected and what happened during the breach," Lommers-Johnson said. "Once that's determined, we'll get a better sense, but we're hoping a few days."

Lommers-Johnson says the breach has shut down their online payment system, and they cannot process new housing applications.

So far, it's unclear what or if any sensitive information was stolen.

Current residents can still pay their rent but must do that in person.

Regarding maintenance, crews are still taking those requests, but residents will have to call the work order phone number.