Cities and counties are beefing up their IT security, and that makes sense, says Augustine Boateng, interim chief information officer (CIO) in Memphis, Tenn.
“It’s important to note that local governments have developed a reputation over the years for having lackluster cybersecurity; and not without good reason. As a result, we’re seeing more and more cyberattacks targeting cities, counties, and the like.” Boateng lists the following IT weaknesses that are sometimes found in local government technology departments:
Read more…
Source: American City & County News
Related:
- Amtrak discloses data breach, potential leak of customer account data
June 2, 2020
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) has disclosed a data breach that may have resulted in the compromise of customer personally identifiable information (PII). The data breach was discovered on April 16, 2020. In a letter to the Attorney General’s Office of Vermont, made public on April 29, the rail service said that an unknown third party managed ...
- Mozilla, Twitter, Reddit join forces in effort to block browsing data from warrantless access
May 25, 2020
A group of seven internet companies are vowing to stand up for the privacy of its users this week when the United States House of Representatives considers the USA FREEDOM Reauthorization Act of 2020. Mozilla, Engine, Reddit, Reform Government Surveillance, Twitter, i2Coalition, and Patreon have asked four US legislators to explicitly prohibit the warrantless collection of internet ...
- Texas Courts Won’t Pay Up in Ransomware Attack
May 14, 2020
A ransomware attack has hit the information technology office that supports Texas appellate courts and judicial agencies, leading to their websites and computer servers being shut down. The office said that it will not pay the ransom requested by the cybercriminals. Specifically affected is the Office of Court Administration (OCA), which is the IT provider for ...
- SilverTerrier: New COVID-19 Themed Business Email Compromise Schemes
May 7, 2020
Focusing on one of the most active subsets of the global threat landscape, Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 tracks Nigerian cyber criminals involved in Business Email Compromise (BEC) activities under the name SilverTerrier. Over the past 90 days (Jan. 30 – Apr. 30), we have observed three SilverTerrier actors/groups launch a series of 10 COVID-19 themed ...
- DDoS attacks in Q1 2020
May 6, 2020
Since the beginning of 2020, due to the COVID-2019 pandemic, life has shifted almost entirely to the Web — people worldwide are now working, studying, shopping, and having fun online like never before. This is reflected in the goals of recent DDoS attacks, with the most targeted resources in Q1 being websites of medical organizations, ...
- US offers $5 million reward for information on North Korean hackers
April 15, 2020
The US government is willing to pay up to $5 million for information on North Korea’s hackers and their ongoing hacking operations. The reward for reporting North Korean hackers was announced today in a joint report published by the Departments of State, Treasury, Homeland Security, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The joint report contains a summary ...