State officials called it a denial of service attack.

Attorney Richard Smith, who deals with cyber security litigation, says the type of attack on the state government site is a usually a Trojan horse type of distraction to pull you away from the bigger attack.

It’s not clear what sites are impacted, but Smith says these types of attacks try and overwhelm a security system. He said the hackers are trying to find a way to breach and get information like credit card numbers or bank details. He advises another attack could be on the way or already in the works, pointing out this is something happening to several municipalities around the state.

“It’s kind of a big deal for them to take on a state agency in an attack like this, because I would think the state would have much more sophisticated protection system than some of the random municipalities in the state,” said Smith.

The state says they are working to mitigate the attack but if anyone plans on using any state sites, they may be running a little slower than usual until things are handled.