Ransomware

Harris County officials are investigating the extent of a recent ransomware attack on the county's provider for mental health services. They noted that some employee files have become inaccessible because of encryption.

Parts of the Washington Department of Transportation's website have been down since Tuesday following what officials described as a cybersecurity incident aimed at disrupting the flow of travel information.

The City Council has approved two agreements totaling nearly $2.7 million to shore up the city’s IT security. The investment comes after two successful cyber attacks against the city and county governments.

County officials are trying to determine whether the data that was stolen and leaked in October includes personal information about employees or residents. The ransomware group Play took credit for the Oct. 19 incident.

On Monday, the county issued a response to a cyber hacking group’s post on the dark web that said it had stolen county data. Officials have since reported that IT staff interrupted the attempt to steal data.

Dallas County, Texas, may be the latest victim in a string of local cyber attacks after a ransomware group claimed on the dark web over the weekend that it has obtained county information.

Colorado House Republicans want to investigate why the state Department of Higher Education did not disclose a major data breach it discovered on June 14 until Aug. 4, beyond the legally required 30-day window.

Orange County District Attorney’s Office Hacked

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office information technology system was hacked over the weekend and portions of the system have been shut down while the agency investigates the damage, a spokesperson said Monday, Oct. 23.

The city of Cumberland has established relationships with state and national cybersecurity organizations and completed various technological upgrades, but a security audit shows need for improvement, a city expert warned.

As the frequency and cost of cyber attacks on higher education continue to increase, CIOs and IT staff should be especially vigilant, training staff on cyber safety and communicating best practices to all network users.

The New York county’s district attorney has announced an online complaint form to report the myriad scams being perpetrated in cyberspace. Those reports will be reviewed by the Special Investigations and Prosecutions Bureau.

The hacker behind a recent cyber attack against St. Louis’ Metro Transit claims to have published the data. It is unclear what data was published or whether it included sensitive personal information.

The Public Safety Threat Alliance plans to offer cybersecurity tabletop exercises and a real-time automated threat intelligence feed, and build up its international membership.

A public school district in Indiana confirmed that a staff member fell for a phishing email last November. The ensuing ransom payment, technology updates and legal costs amounted to $1 million.

An internal report reviewing Dallas’ response to a ransomware attack that was planned to be published Wednesday could now have its public release delayed up to two weeks, city officials say.

For the first time since the incident, City Manager T.C. Broadnax recently agreed to a sit-down talk about how hackers were able to access the personal information of at least 30,000 people.

Reports from cybersecurity companies in 2023 show mixed trends regarding the number of global data breaches, ransomware attacks, records affected and government costs. But one thing is clear: Cyber attack impacts steadily grow.

The FBI led a multinational effort involving the authorities from France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Romania and Latvia to take down criminal infrastructure, disabling malware known as Qakbot.