Cybersecurity

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has announced the appointment of Adam Proffitt as secretary of administration and Jeff Maxon as the interim chief information technology officer following the departure of Dr. DeAngela Burns-Wallace.

Vice Society, which is known for targeting schools with cyber attacks, says it leaked sensitive personal data of students and staff since Xavier University declined to meet its demands after a November ransomware attack.

After a year full of data breaches, ransomware attacks and real-world cyber impacts stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, what’s next? Here’s part 2 of your annual roundup of security industry forecasts for 2023 and beyond.

The University of Oklahoma banned the app Tuesday, and Oklahoma State University took less than 24 hours to follow suit. The ban complies with an executive order issued by Gov. Kevin Stitt.

Louisiana’s Xavier University is warning faculty and students that the cyber attack last month might have compromised their personal information. The extent of the exposure remains unknown, officials say.

At least 18 states have banned staffers’ use on government devices of the social media app TikTok over concerns about the possible security risks posed by the Chinese-owned company.

After a year full of data breaches, ransomware attacks and real-world cyber impacts stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, what’s next? Here’s part 1 of your annual roundup of security industry forecasts for 2023 and beyond.

The number of cyber attacks on schools has been ramping up, with schools facing off against ransomware, DDoS attacks and other threats. Luckily, a number of resources can help them bolster their defenses.

The banning and purging of TikTok from U.S. college networks and devices continues apace, with federal officials expressing bipartisan concern about the app's data collection and potential for nefarious use by China.

After stealing the data of tens of thousands of people, extortionists from the Karakurt group have contacted their employees, business partners and clients with harassing emails and phone calls to pressure the victims to cooperate.

EC-Council University is making Certified Ethical Hacker and Certified Network Defender qualifications, as well as IT management training, part of a new online master’s degree program in computer science.

A Texas district attorney asked a local school district on Dec. 9, and again on Dec. 19, to notify up to 30,000 people that a security breach had exposed their confidential information, before making the announcement himself.

Following Idaho Gov. Brad Little's ban of TikTok on state-owned devices and networks, the state's colleges and universities are deleting their accounts and blocking access to the app on campus Wi-Fi networks.

During a recent Brookings Institute event, a former FCC chair and a former chief of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau said that features that make 5G compelling also create different kinds of cybersecurity risks to address.

Following a memo from Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey last week banning use of TikTok on state networks and devices, the university has made the app inaccessible on campus housing networks and warned employees not to install it.

This past year will be remembered as another year of ransomware attacks, data breaches impacting critical infrastructure and, most of all, global cybersecurity impacts from the Russian war with Ukraine.

Attack vectors in critical infrastructure are always changing, and agencies must move beyond just preventing cyber attacks and toward resiliency. Digital twin modeling can help governments prepare to work through any scenario.

Roughly half of Kansas government agencies — including key departments, public universities and K-12 schools — investigated by state auditors have significant information security weaknesses.