Cybersecurity

Federal lawmakers reactivated the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program earlier this month — but the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees it, is in partial shutdown.

The city currently cannot process some online credit card payments, because of a cyber attack on one of its payment gateway providers. Officials are working to stand up a secure alternative solution.

From compromised TVs to AI-powered house chores, exploring the evolving global threats and why human-centric security matters more than ever.

While overall ransomware attack numbers remained steady, higher education institutions drove a sharp rise in exposed records, fueled in part by third-party software vulnerabilities.

The Hampden County Assistant District Attorney's Office is training high schoolers to give presentations about online safety at elementary and middle schools across Western Massachusetts.

Dickinson Public Schools paid $4.92 million to a fraudulent account after criminals impersonated one of its vendors. Local police are working with the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate.

To guard against phishing-based ransomware attacks, the state is outfitting 161 of its jurisdictions and other public-sector organizations with hardware-based protection. And it's not alone.

Gov. Tim Walz has authorized $1.2 million in state emergency disaster assistance to address a cybersecurity incident that disrupted digital services in St. Paul for several weeks this summer.

County commissioners approved a three-year Microsoft 365 and cybersecurity agreement, plus a cyber suite add-on. Two members said the risk of exposing sensitive data outweighs concerns about monthly costs.

The third-party payment processing vendor, BridgePay Network Solutions, is reporting a systemwide outage to its services following a ransomware attack. An investigation and recovery efforts are ongoing.

The state has created a policy establishing how data across the executive branch is identified, classified and safeguarded, to act as the foundation for data security. Its scope is wide-reaching.

Navigating insights from the World Economic Forum’s meeting at Davos on AI-driven threats, the push for digital sovereignty and the weaponization of critical global infrastructure.

As part of a 10-county pilot, the local government fully implemented the technology Jan. 29. Its GPS, GIS and improved cellphone technology offer additional accuracy during emergencies.

The state’s recently arrived director of cyber operations will work closely with state Chief Information Security Officer Chris Gergen to build and manage statewide cybersecurity strategy and operations.

After a phishing incident in December initially cost Warren County over $3.3 million, officials may soon pass a thorough computer use policy for county employees that will touch on related issues.

Funding from the federal State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program will support the delivery of multifactor authentication hard tokens to 161 local governments in New York state.

The auditor’s budget was cut after its refusal to join a countywide cyber program and contribute $1 million from its real estate assessment fund to help mitigate the cybersecurity costs.

Lawmakers in the Magnolia State are considering bills to make the state CIO a cabinet member, mirroring a national trend of CIOs evolving from tech managers to enterprise leaders — and to create a cybersecurity department.