Cybersecurity

Hospitals and health-care systems across the nation and in Massachusetts are facing increased ransomware threats, federal law enforcement and cybersecurity agencies warned, urging organizations to prepare.

A recent ransomware attack that took over some Hall County, Ga., election information will apparently not harm other election systems in the state, according to the secretary of state's office.

The attack primarily targeted the county's email system and was likely compromised by a remote login, the use of which has significantly increased since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, an official said.

The Lake George Land Conservancy reported that hackers had locked data within its internal system in a recent attack, but officials say no ransom was paid because the lost data had been backed up.

Responding to a flurry of online concern about the fact that the company makes software for posting election results, Tyler Technologies said that product isn’t hosted on the network that got hit.

The Texas Department of Information Resources has negotiated a partnership with cybersecurity firm FireEye and will now be able to offer affordable security services to state and local agencies.

The Georgia entity in charge of the stewardship of Jekyll Island was targeted by a ransomware attack last week. Officials reported that the cyberattack was isolated and systems were restored.

Of all the cyberattacks that affect state and local governments, ransomware is one of the most ubiquitous and costly. Now security researchers fear it could also become a political weapon in the upcoming election.

Hackers targeting school systems was on the uptick even before COVID, with 348 publicly disclosed school cyberincidents in 2019. The reliance on digital learning has made them an even bigger target.

Several institutions in the state were indirectly affected by a ransomware attack against the global cloud software company Blackbaud. The company serves nonprofits, universities, foundations and other organizations.

Athens School District will pay hackers $50,000 in cryptocurrency after district servers and data were encrypted. The cyberattack delayed the start of the school year by at least another week.

Chilton County officials say they don’t yet know what information was compromised in the ransomware attack two weeks ago, but around 70 computers were targeted in the cyberincident.

As colleges and universities strive to protect their campuses from COVID-19, they must also pay attention to cyberattacks that target sensitive data, a cybersecurity expert warns.

Officials are increasing the cybersecurity stance of the borough after it fell victim to a ransomware attack in April. Protections include an additional layer of security with an onsite backup of its computers.

System administrators discovered Friday that hackers had taken over a portion of the statewide court network and were demanding ransom before control of the system was restored. This is not the first such attack.

Security chiefs spend a lot of time thinking about how to fend off attacks that come from outside their own systems, but threats from inside organizations can be just as devastating if the right measures aren’t in place.

As part of the massive cybersecurity event, Director Chris Krebs of the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency discussed prominent issues related to state and local government.

Blockchain technology can address some weaknesses in voting systems, but not all of them – and it opens new potential vulnerabilities, too.