Apex notifying 22,000 residents data could be compromised in 2024 cyberattack
APEX, N.C. (WTVD) -- The Town of Apex is in the process of notifying 22,000 residents, which is roughly a quarter of Apex's population, that their data may have been compromised following a 2024 cyberattack.
"We hopefully are closing out this chapter on the cyber event. This is the last piece of us notifying those residents and our employees that that breach occurred, but also finding comfort in the fact that we brought it back and it didn't go too far into the dark web," said Apex Town Manager Randy Vosburg.
Resident Linda Mellenbeck remembers back in the fall of 2024, when she had problems paying her water bill.
"Sometimes I didn't get a bill for weeks," she said. "It was too bad that it was a whole town system."
Other residents had sticker shock and saw their water bills double.
Apex now says the spike was caused by an accelerated effort to replace all water meters after the cyberattack.
Vosburg says the incident is nearly resolved now.
As for the data that was stolen, it ultimately ended up being stored by an outside technology company.
Town leaders partnered with the FBI and took legal action against the technology company to get its data back.
Since then, Apex has built an entirely new financial system, and Vosburg thinks residents' data will not make it to the dark web.
He also said the Town now has a dedicated cybersecurity team monitoring the system daily.
