Cobb County shifts website address to .gov; officials cite security and trust

Cobb County is changing its website address from cobbcounty.org to cobbcounty.gov, a county staff member said, calling the move "the same website, just a different address."

The staff member said the change is not a reaction to a recent cybersecurity incident but "part of a more than year long effort based on a federal initiative to get all governments into the .gov family," adding that the switch is intended to improve security and trust.

Officials said the .gov domain is more tightly regulated, which makes it harder for bad actors to spoof government websites and email addresses. "There are a lot of bad actors out there who love to spoof websites and email addresses to fish private information out of you. That's nearly impossible with the tightly regulated .gov," the staff member said.

The staff member also said search results and fake support sites can be purchased by malicious actors, but they "can't buy their way onto .gov," which the county expects will help residents more easily verify official communications.

County staff assured residents that existing bookmarks and email addresses will be forwarded automatically to the new .gov address and that online services such as bill pay will not be affected. "If you have old bookmarks or email addresses, they will automatically be forwarded to .gov. And don't worry if you have bill pay or any other accounts, they won't be affected either," the staff member said.

The county encouraged residents to use cobbcounty.gov as the official address going forward and to verify emails or search results that claim to be from the county.