Possible cyberattack against Florida Department of Health halts funeral home services across the state

FLORIDA - If you want to get married, have a baby, or bury a loved one in Florida right now, you might run into some trouble.

The Florida Health Department suffered what it calls a "potential cyber incident" that impacted its certification system. This impacts families and funeral homes alike.

FOX 35 reached out to several funeral homes across Central Florida, learning this has been an issue since June 28th and they’ve been at a standstill ever since.

That’s left families like James Cruce’s in a bind.

"You need the closure," he said.

Cruce says his sister just wants to grieve. Her husband passed away last week, but they still haven’t been able to move forward with his arrangements.

"They told me, ‘No, we can't do it,’" he recalled.

Funeral homes in Florida need death certificates from the state’s Department of Health before they can arrange a cremation or burial.

But the Florida Department of Health can’t issue those right now, so funeral homes can’t operate as normal, leaving Cruce’s family and others all over the state frustrated and confused.

"It would’ve been nice if the state had put out some information to the people," said Cruce.

The Florida Department of Health told FOX 35 in a statement they may have been hacked, saying:

"There have been temporary outages of the online Vital Statistics system following a potential cyber incident. As is standard practice, the Department is coordinating with law enforcement and all relevant stakeholders. Any effected parties will be notified as a comprehensive assessment of the situation is completed."

They gave no timeline for how long that system might be down , leaving Cruce in limbo.

"With her not being able to bury him - that's leaving a big gap right there," said Cruce.

The Florida Department of Health says only its Vital Statistics system was impacted, and the majority of their services remain operational with no disruptions.