RAPID CITY, S.D. — The Pennington County Sheriffs Department is working closely with state and federal agencies in regards to a cybersecurity threat that arose over the weekend. Because of this, many offices within the department were closed outside of critical services such as 911 Dispatch, the Pennington County Jail and the Juvenile Services Center.
A few of the agencies involved in the investigation is the South Dakota National Guard Cyber Incident Response Team, the South Dakota Fusion Center and the Cyber Infrastructure Security Agency. The sheriffs office is working on assessing all systems and is working on getting them up and running. Many of the services within the sheriffs department will still be impacted due to the incident.
Officials with the Pennington County Sheriffs Office also recognize that many citizens of Pennington County are worried about their information prioritized as it is one of the top priorities for the department. They also ask the public to be patient during the investigation.
Details such as how the attack took place, what caused it and how they learned about the incident are still unknown. Updates will be provided as the investigation continues.
Originally from Vermont, River joined NewsCenter1 as a Multimedia Journalist and Digital Producer in June of 2026 immediately after graduating from Springfield College where he double-majored in Sports Journalism and English. While at Springfield, River served as President of SCTV3, Springfield’s student-run TV station. He also held internships with media outlets such as MassLive and 98.5 The Sports Hub, the country’s top sports talk radio station. River has a passion for journalism and loves to tell important stories. In his freetime, River loves to spend quality time with friends and family, go to sporting events and spend time in the Black Hills.
