Cybersecurity

Higher ed’s complex array of systems creates a large attack surface, and institutions are likely to pay ransom. Meanwhile, K-12 schools struggle with cyber staffing but more often resist extortion, a global report finds.  

Witnesses testifying in a recent congressional hearing said domestic sources are playing a strong role in driving online falsehoods that undermine faith in elections and inspire real-world violent attacks.

Across the United States, many local governments and states — as well as private companies — are discovering their cyber insurance premiums have skyrocketed and that they must meet stricter guidelines

The threat is fast, frequent and international. Keeping up may take stronger cross-border public-private partnerships, improved reporting rules, a higher national cybersecurity baseline and cryptocurrency payment disruptions.

The program, announced last week by Gov. Kathy Hochul, would provide county governments and select cities with endpoint detection and response tools to continuously monitor systems and protect against cyber attacks.

A newly released report by the county’s Election Security Review Committee called the security around election equipment “inadequate” and also called out the “serious problem” of threats against election workers.

Snyder, who was Michigan’s governor for eight years, brought on his former state CIO to start a cybersecurity company focused on small and medium-sized organizations. Its offerings include a “personalized concierge.”

Data theft from Cedar Rapids Community School District this month may have included staff members' names, Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers, bank account and routing numbers and medical information.

Police are investigating a report that paychecks for a town employee were diverted to an incorrect bank through an apparent cyber fraud scheme, as part of a scheme that possibly went on for nine weeks.

The Bellingham Public Library reported that a “limited number” of patrons were impacted by the recent cyber attack against the Whatcom County Library System. Officials say 735 patrons were affected.

Attackers who penetrate an organization can evade detection by using the victims’ own cloud-based services to conduct their data exfiltration and malware downloads. This is the latest evolution of living off the land attacks.

The town of Frederick, Colo., is currently investigating claims about a breach in their network. Officials are working with digital forensics experts to determine exactly if and how the community might be impacted.

The Georgia district is prioritizing technology this year, with a cybersecurity and incident plan and team, phishing tests, cameras watching building interiors and a fingerprint scanner for meal orders.

The district’s CTE campuses have been working with technology leaders from the county and private sector in recent years to ensure cybersecurity course curricula are aligned with ever-changing workforce needs.

The new partnership with the cybersecurity ratings provider comes as more counties face ransomware, data breach and election risks. The idea is to provide enough data in quick enough fashion to head off those risks.

The first-ever national competition drew teens from Iowa, New York, Alabama, Utah, Colorado, Florida and Hawaii, challenging them to use virtual tools to defend a nuclear reactor energy supply from cyber attacks.

A Massachusetts state agency issued a warning to residents about hacked ATM and card processing machines that have been cloning and stealing information off of credit, debit and Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards.

A lawsuit has been filed against California Attorney General Rob Bonta as a result of the June exposure of a trove of personal data housed in the Department of Justice’s Firearms Dashboard Portal.