Lisbon. The filing with the DC registry office is still on hold after software vendor Quote Systems reported new technical issues on Friday.
As a result, Cott Systems discontinued the land information management system used by the county clerk and other company customers. This again means that no deeds or other real estate transactions are being recorded until further notice.
County Clerk James Armeni Sr. said his office is asking realtors and even homeowners to foreclose on their homes, and the delay is costing them money.
"I'm just as nervous as they are," Armeni said.
The register office opened in the last week of December, but could not register documents or search after Cote warned of security threats on Christmas Day. The breach took place in a remote data center containing information from the registry office.
Armeni announced on Wednesday that his office could rewrite the documents, but on Thursday Cott said he was having problems with the equipment and had stopped doing so. He didn't announce the outage at the time because he was assured the company was working on a fix and didn't think it would last as long as it is now.
The registry office remains open but still unable to function. Armenians said they could record the date and time of the document as soon as they got back to work.
Armenia received email updates from the company and a statement the company shared on Thursday thanked everyone for their patience and understanding. The closure of the Cott system affects not only the District of Columbia, but also registrants in other Ohio counties as well as government agencies and private organizations across the country.
As a result of the cyber incident, technical difficulties were identified and, according to Armen, the company had to replace some equipment by the company.
When asked if the county currently has options, he noted that the company has all of the county's information and has a contract with them. He said it was an unfortunate accident that "could happen to anyone".
They will make it public as soon as the system is restored.
"Cott Systems understands this is a critical situation and assures us that further efforts are needed to protect our data as much as possible," the company said in a statement.