(TNS) — Two “cybercrimes against the county” are under investigation in Anne Arundel, a county spokesperson told the Capital Gazette on Friday. The county, however, could not answer questions about the scope of the breaches.The county announced Thursday that someone gained unauthorized access to its systems this August.“The County is aware that a cybercriminal group has made claims on the dark web about Anne Arundel County,” county spokesperson Gabby Reed said in an email. “Anne Arundel County will not confirm or comment publicly on the data claimed to have been stolen.”The news followed an early 2025 ransomware attack on Anne Arundel, which prompted Democratic County Executive Steuart Pittman to invest $4.3 million in information technology improvements. While unveiling the budget proposal in May 2025, Pittman said, “After falling behind for many years, our county is catching up,” but “it ain’t cheap.”“As part of our ongoing commitment to information security, the County has taken substantial steps since the 2025 incident and continues to work with cybersecurity specialists to assess the county’s current security posture and identify privacy and security safeguards designed to enhance our existing protections and prevent future incidents,” Reed said in the email.Reed said she was unable to answer the Capital Gazette’s questions on how many people were affected, which files were compromised and who committed the cybercrimes. She also could not answer whether the county had to pay ransom in either incident.The county said in a Thursday news release that it will begin sending notification letters next week to those affected by the 2025 breach.The data compromised varies by person, according to the release. Officials urged people to review account statements, credit reports and explanations of benefits for unusual activity or errors and report suspicious activity to the appropriate healthcare provider, insurer and bank.“Our focus remains on continuing the review of the files involved to determine their contents, whether the files relate to individuals, and the information associated with those individuals,” Reed wrote. “The provision of essential governmental services is Anne Arundel County’s core mission and continued priority.”While a second cybersecurity incident is rare, a cybersecurity professor said local government attacks are not abnormal.“Local governments remain a very vulnerable and enticing target for cyber adversaries,” said Richard Forno, associate director of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Cybersecurity Institute. “There are a lot of reasons for it, but it’s not surprising to see local governments marketed on a weekly basis in this country, or even indeed around the world.”Even with an investment into IT security, Forno said attacks could still happen to any municipality.“You can throw billions of dollars at it. There’s never a guarantee of total security,” Forno said. “That’s just a truism in cybersecurity. More money does not necessarily mean more security, and you can never guarantee 100% security.”Maryland has seen several prominent cybersecurity incidents in recent years.A cybersecurity incident knocked down systems for five weeks this September and October at Luminis Health, which affected Luminis Health Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis and Luminis Health Doctors Community Medical Center in Lanham.Baltimore City Public Schools and the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office both had cybersecurity incidents last year. Baltimore County Public Schools was hit by a ransomware attack in 2020.© 2026 Capital Gazette. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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