The town of Apex said about 22,000 residents may have had
their data compromised in a cybersecurity attack in July 2024.
The town announced Monday it has secured the stolen information
with the help of the FBI.
“When public data is targeted by criminal actors, we must
have clear pathways to recover it quickly,” said Apex Town Manager Randy
Vosburg in a news release. “We saw the opportunity, and we hope that
taking decisive legal action in this case will allow other local governments to
also take a stand for the privacy rights of their residents.”
The town’s release on Monday said none of the data landed on
the dark web and no indication it will be posted there.
The FBI and the cloud storage provider Bublup, Inc.,
confirmed that the attacker stored town data within Bublup, Inc.’s cloud.
Bublup, Inc. was not responsible for the attack, but the company declined to
release the data back to the town without a court order. The town of Apex
petitioned the Wake County Superior Court for immediate relief to protect
public services and the community’s information.
On Oct. 10, 2024, the court granted a Temporary Restraining
Order (TRO) requiring Bublup, Inc. to provide the town full and direct access
to its data. The order, extended on Oct. 21, 2024, ensured that Apex
could review and recover essential information.
This action set the legal precedent that a local government
successfully compelled a U.S.-based cloud provider to return data stolen in a
cyberattack. It demonstrated that
municipalities have the right to recover their own data when it is unlawfully
taken and the lack of access is harmful to town interests.
Since the recovery, the town of Apex has worked through the
complex analysis of the data to identify and notify the affected individuals
whose personal information may have been involved. It included working
with a trusted third-party data analytics team as the town conducted an
in-depth review of the impacted data.
The town of Apex said will continue to work with
cybersecurity professionals to assess their safeguards against constantly
evolving threats.
The town encourages people to remain vigilant against
incidents of identity theft and fraud. It also mentioned how people are
entitled to a free credit report each year from each of the three (3) major
credit reporting bureaus:
• Equifax: 1-888-298-0045
• Experian:
1-888-397-3742
• TransUnion;
1-833-395-6938
