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Arkansas Hit By Malware, Many Senate Websites Down

This Wednesday brought some government website hiccups.

A malware attack prompted the Arkansas Department of Information Systems (DIS) to place a moratorium on zip files in the state’s email system until the problem is resolved.

The DIS tweeted a notice of the problem the morning of Jan. 21. Blocking zip files was the “only remedy available” to halt the spread of infected files across the state’s network, according to the office. 

Due to a current malware attack, all .zip files are being blocked on the state email system for the time being. https://t.co/xZpDBoo9JH — Arkansas DIS (@arkansasDIS) January 21, 2015
The Arkansas DIS notice comes hours before another series of government website outages announced by USA Today.

Many, but not all, #Senate.gov web and email sites down. pic.twitter.com/AwZGLrCFwY — USA TODAY Technology (@usatodaytech) January 21, 2015

Todd Inskeep, an advisory board member of the RSA Conference, told Government Technology that it's generally not a good idea to tweet or otherwise publicly share any information about an ongoing cyber attack.

Colin wrote for Government Technology and Emergency Management from 2010 through most of 2016.