Ransomware

Artificial intelligence is emerging as a key cybersecurity tool for both attackers and defenders.

As Russian military forces carry out their mission in Ukraine, the President Vladimir Putin has promised “consequences” for nations that interfere. U.S. officials have warned this could come in the form of cyber attacks.

U.S. organizations should up their defenses for the possibility of a Russian cyber attack or misinformation campaign, CISA says. Russian cyber strategies against Ukraine and its allies could evolve.

County government officials in Southern California say they are pushing back against millions of hacking attempts each year. In 2020 alone, Riverside County saw more than 150 million hacking attempts on its network.

An investigation by the South Florida Sun Sentinel uncovered a series of decisions by the district and its lawyers to mislead or delay notifying potential victims, and withhold details and internal correspondences.

The education IT security company ManagedMethods hosted a webinar Thursday to discuss ways that schools and ed-tech vendors can better protect student data amid a rise in cyber attacks against K-12 districts.

Multifactor authentication is a key part of zero-trust security, and a method promoted by the likes of CISA. It aims to block out hackers who — in this age of data breaches — manage to steal users’ passwords.

Adopting a zero-trust approach has helped the courts secure remote and hybrid operations and limit how much damage a potential hacker could wreak, says New Jersey Judiciary CIO Jack McCarthy.

Classes are proceeding as scheduled, but the Washington institution's local servers, website and campus WiFi are down, and officials are unsure whether confidential personal data was compromised.

The Identity Theft Resource Center's 2021 annual report shows a 68 percent increase in data compromises compared to 2020. The report also says ransomware may soon supplant phishing as the dominant cyber attack.

Zero trust contrasts with a “castle and moat” approach to cybersecurity thinking, and recognizes that use of remote workforces and cloud services means there’s no longer a clear perimeter to defend.

The federal government’s newly launched Cyber Safety Review Board will start by investigating the Log4j incident and will recommend system-wide fixes for improving the nation’s cyber posture, says one prominent member.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers have introduced a bill that would appropriate $45 million to the state Public Education Department to develop a cybersecurity program for schools over a three-year period.

Some lawmakers in the Florida House of Representatives want to institute a policy that would prevent state and local governments from negotiating with hackers in the case of a ransomware attack.

Hackers broke in through a city network engineer’s account in 2020. The near disaster revealed the need for stronger passwords, multifactor authentication and automated threat detection and response.

After the conclusion of an eight-month review of a ransomware attack on St. Clair County's computer system, local officials say over 600 people's personal information may have been seen or stolen.

The editorial board of the Buffalo News implores New York state lawmakers to set aside funding and other resources to help school districts, including rural ones, prepare for cyber threats such as ransomware.

States working to thwart ransomware need strong patching, backup and access management approaches. But they also can’t afford to forget about employee experience or fostering trust with local government.