The state-run Colorado.gov portal homepage was taken offline Wednesday afternoon after the state says it fell victim to a cyberattack.

The cyberattack was claimed by an “anonymous suspected foreign actor,” according to the State Emergency Operations Center. State officials said the attacker also targeted multiple other state government services and websites across the United States.

There is no estimated timeline for when the Colorado.gov homepage will be back online.

The Colorado Governor’s Office of Information Technology and State Emergency Operations Center said it is working with state and federal partners to restore access to the Colorado.gov homepage and to ensure that state websites and services remain unaffected.

All other Colorado websites and essential state government services are online and available, state officials said. A temporary webpage is currently up at Colorado.gov to direct Coloradans to common online state

services.

The cyber assault occurred comes a cyberattack in August hit most county departments in Fremont County, limiting county services for several weeks. Most but not all government services were back up and running as of Monday, Fremont County Commissioner Dwayne Mcfall said.

The Governor’s Office of Information Technology determined the Fremont County cyberattack was executed by Blackcat ransomware, also known as ALPHV.

Actors affiliated with Blackcat often request multimillion-dollar ransom payments of cryptocurrency, such as

Bitcoin or Monero, to recover encrypted digital files, according to an April report from the FBI.

The cyberattack affected Fremont County’s servers but did not disrupt state or federal agencies, county officials said.

Cities and states across America have come under cyberattacks — with increasing severity and regularity — in the last few years.

Comparitech, a company that reviews cybersecurity tools, said America faced nearly 2,000 ransomware attacks since 2018, with the average ransom demand at nearly $2 million. These attacks, the company said, have so far cost health care organizations $20.8 billion, schools and colleges $3.56 billion, governments $18.9 billion, and businesses $20.9 billion.

Countering cyberattacks has been top of mind for policymakers across the country.

The National Conference of State Legislatures said at least 40 states, plus Puerto Rico, introduced or considered about 250 bills or resolutions that deal with cybersecurity just this year. Two dozen states enacted at least 41 bills, including measures to require government agencies to implement cybersecurity training and follow security policies, standards and practices; put in place incident response plans; and, provide mandatory training for employees. Other measures offer funding for cybersecurity programs and practices, require security practices for elections, and establish programs for cybersecurity workforce training and education.