Cybersecurity

Usernames and passwords were taken from the Joint Commission On Public Ethics legacy system in a breach first discovered in February, officials announced in an email to state employees.

In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a lead analyst from the accounting and business advisory firm Schneider Downs discusses cyber attack vulnerabilities and what colleges can do to mitigate them.

In this interview with Washington state Chief Privacy Officer Katy Ruckle, we explore the role of data privacy in providing government services.  

State and local governments are often seen as easy targets for hackers. To avoid devastating ransomware attacks that have plagued cities worldwide, a first key step is to limit privileged access to systems.

More than 900 people have had their personal info compromised — potentially including their birthdate, driver’s license and social security number — following a cyber breach in East Windsor in February, officials say.

The public sector is facing changing cyber threats — not just because of remote work, but from increasing ransomware hacks and nation-state attacks as well. But there are also new tools ready to meet those challenges.

County spokesman Nathan Rudy said the county ‘experienced a ransomware breach’ this morning and as part of the county’s response, officials temporarily shuttered the county email system. An investigation is underway.

Cybersecurity guidance needs to be designed so small organizations can easily identify next steps to take, and awareness campaigns should put practices into language layfolk can understand, experts say.

Students in grades 6-12 are invited to a one-week program at Mercer County Technical Education Center and Monroe County High School to learn about cyber safety, ethics and critical network security tools and skills.

One year after the Colonial Pipeline hack — and the IST Ransomware Task Force's report — attacks remain frequent. But the government is making strides and recognizing the issue as a national security matter.

Chicago Public Schools say a ransomware attack on tech vendor Battelle for Kids in December compromised the data of 56,000 staff and half a million students, including names, dates of birth, grade level and student ID.

The department's IT team is developing a system in-house to be rolled out in June. The project was already in process but took on new urgency after a hack in January brought down Skedula and PupilPath for weeks.

Organizations — federal and otherwise — that have certain VMware products connected to the Internet should act as if they’ve been compromised, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said in a May 18 alert.

The academy opened in 2019 with 150 students, one of only two of its kind among southwest Ohio schools. This school year's enrollment was 165 students, and next year's class will count 200 students.

Last week, industry experts discussed the current data privacy landscape, focusing on the issues surrounding identity data, privacy and transparency, as well as the challenges they pose to government of all sizes.

This week's graduates include the first students of the academy's cyber systems program, launched in 2018 as a cross-disciplinary field incorporating electrical engineering, operations research and computer analysis.

According to a recent audit, the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency failed to limit access to sensitive information in state systems. The audit was critical of employee access control protocols, among other issues.

A new memorandum instructs CISA to “engage with” state and local governments by late fall about quantum computing risks. Federal officials, meanwhile, are looking for new ways to build a quantum-focused workforce.