Cybersecurity

Almost everyone has heard of ChatGPT. But Jeff Brown, CISO for the state of Connecticut, shares his concerns on some of the other “dark side” apps that have emerged with generative AI.  

There are six university-led, federally funded projects, and they focus on training specialists and developing defense tools to protect against attacks aimed at hobbling the country’s energy sector.

The March 21 attack impacts information from about 300 people, the Tarrant Appraisal District said. The district’s legal council has said hackers have asked for $700,000. Portions of the district website remain offline; it has not paid the ransom.

A recent cyber attack on the state court system underscored the need to boost government defenses. The bill would also bring more consolidation to executive branch IT operations.

Traverse City Area Public Schools in Michigan canceled classes Monday and Tuesday to test critical infrastructure after seeing a disruption to its network last week, with no indication that information was compromised.

A spear phishing cyber attack against Grand Traverse County was stopped by security software before it damaged county computers or disrupted operations, officials report.

The assessment, collection and recorder of deeds offices remain shuttered as the city updates systems following the cybersecurity incident.

The East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office in Louisiana thwarted an intrusion into its network on Friday, but hackers did obtain a small quantity of data. The bad actors are not believed to have gained access to the agency’s network.

State Chief Information Security Officer Jeremy Rodgers talked about the Sunshine State’s approach to artificial intelligence at a recent cybersecurity conference. A centralized legislative framework around AI does not yet exist, he said.

Responding to a spike in reported scams targeting local seniors, Solano County's Older and Disabled Adult Services and Adult Protective Services have launched the Solano Senior Fraud Prevention Center.

A recent debilitating cyber attack struck Change Healthcare, a massive health-care technology company that among other services handles about half the medical claims in the country.

Google will delete billions of records it scooped from "Incognito" mode web browsing of about 136 million U.S. users but will continue to collect data through the not-so-private browser setting.

Some city sources have attributed a cyber incident in early March to ransomware, although the municipality has only called it a “network disruption.” Birmingham is using paper-based processes to pay staff, but public effects may be more minor.

Some property-related offices in Jackson County, Mo., were closed Tuesday due to computer malfunctions. A ransomware attack, the county said in a statement, is “a potential cause,” but no data currently appears to have been compromised.

Experts point to the swift rise of artificial intelligence and generative AI, and its early use in political campaigns, as evidence it could be “weaponized to deceive voters or harm candidates” during the general election this fall.

With global cyber threats and other international tensions growing, what scenarios should state and local governments consider when conducting exercises to test their people, processes and technology?  

Artificial intelligence and cybersecurity are fertile ground for state lawmakers this session. Bills they also propose include making a joint risk analysis of generative AI and changes to the California Cybersecurity Maturity Metric.

A new report looks at three major counter-ransomware collaborations between the public and private sectors, offering up a list of challenges along with some best practices.