Ransomware

Officials with the Oakland police union filed a claim asking for monetary damages of up to $25,000 per affected employee nearly two months after a ransomware attack that released 12 years of city employee data.

A private liberal arts college in Oregon has regained most of its IT systems since a ransomware attack on March 3, but it's still working with experts to determine whether sensitive personal information was compromised.

The second-largest public school system in Alabama has taken down its network systems while it works with outside cybersecurity experts and law enforcement to investigate whether data was compromised.

The Modesto Police Department's IT network may have been the victim of a cyber attack three days before the city discovered the security breach, although officials say there is no longer any active threat.

Citing a lack of communication, union officials say they are now considering lawsuits to secure more extensive credit protections for the thousands of workers whose personal information was stolen last month and posted on the dark web.

A Washington college's website and campus WiFi are down after a ransomware attack this week, which local and federal officials are investigating while students and staff work remotely until further notice.

The new National Cybersecurity Strategy reiterates the government’s focus on resilient infrastructure and taking the offensive against hackers. But it also brings a fresh approach to the private sector.

The federal joint advisory details indicators of compromise and tactics, techniques and procedures associated with the disruptive ransomware variant, as well as advising on improving cyber defenses.

The new law requires public schools, local and state government and government contractors to report cyber incidents within 72 hours. The state hopes this will give it better insights and enable faster response and mitigations.

Unsurprisingly, the artificial intelligence tool that captured the Internet’s collective gaze is now helping cyber criminals with their nefarious work. The tool has made it even harder to spot phishing emails, for example.

Minneapolis Public Schools in February became one of countless K-12 districts to suffer a ransomware attack in recent years, but teachers are frustrated by vague language and a lack of communication from officials.

Wilkes-Barre Career and Technical Center in Pennsylvania reportedly thwarted a cyber attack this week with backup procedures and by shutting down its network, resorting to remote instruction on Thursday.

The hackers behind an early February cyber attack have published personal employee data. That data includes current and past employees' Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers, birth dates and addresses.

The FBI and third-party specialists are working to determine the contents of the released city data. Officials said the Feb. 8 ransomware attack was perpetrated by the threat actor group Play.

Secure government requires a cyber-aware workforce. Doing it well means helping employees stay safe even outside of work, motivating them around the importance of security and fostering a culture where they feel safe reporting incidents.

Personal information, including Social Security and driver's license numbers, may have been accessed in the Feb. 3 cyberattack against the Modesto Police Department, officials have announced.

The strategy says local and state government and other end users shouldn’t have to shoulder so much cyber risk — and will hold software companies more responsible for secure products.

Following the discovery of unusual activity on police department computers, officials called in a cybersecurity firm to identify the source of the issue. Town officials do not believe any data was breached in the incident.