CONCORD, N.H. —

The New Hampshire Lottery website was back online early Saturday morning after experiencing a cyber attack.

The Lottery said the website was back online at 1:24 a.m. after they warned of a cyberattack on its website Friday.

They are continuing on working to restore the NHiLottery website and will provide updates to players on the progress.

Lottery officials announced this cyber attack around 9:30 a.m. on Friday, though it is unclear when the attack first began.

"Our players' security and integrity of our web platform is our primary concern. We have notified our players of this situation and we will continue to keep the public updated as we receive more information," lottery officials told WMUR in a statement.

The attack happened on what is typically a busy day for lottery sales, with the Mega Millions drawing taking place late Friday night.

Lottery officials said they temporarily took the website offline in an abundance of caution as they work through the security issues.

Officials are asking for patience from the public as they work to resolve the issue. Officials said they notified web players of this situation.

It's not known if any personal information was compromised in this attack.

Lottery ticket sales in stores statewide are not affected, bringing relief to store owners like Dave McLaughlin.

"Sales in the store are not impacted so everything's been good," McLaughlin, of McLaughlin's Country Market in Concord, said.

Jeff Stutzman is the CEO of New Hampshire-based cybersecurity company Trusted Internet. While he is not connected to the New Hampshire Lottery, he says, generally speaking, attacks like this are on the rise.

"We've been seeing a lot of government sites that have been hit in the last two years. Ransomware has gone through the roof, web applications. All kinds of things are being hit," Stutzman said.

Stutzman said that it's not just big agencies that have to worry about these types of attacks. He said anyone who runs a website at home should also make sure they have the proper protections in place.

https://www.wmur.com/article/new-hampshire-lottery-website-back-online-after-experiencing-cyber-attack/41006716