Security gaps leave local governments vulnerable to a variety of cyber threats


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


Sign up for our Newsletter


Related:

  • Largest water utility company in the US says it was targeted by a cyberattack

    October 8, 2024

    American Water Works, the nation’s largest regulated water and wastewater utility company, announced Monday that it was hit by a cyberattack earlier this month, prompting it to pause billing for its millions of customers. The Camden, New Jersey-based utility company said it became aware of “unauthorized activity” in their computer networks and systems last Thursday, which ...

  • U.S. Wiretap Systems Targeted in China-Linked Hack

    October 5, 2024

    A cyberattack tied to the Chinese government penetrated the networks of a swath of U.S. broadband providers, potentially accessing information from systems the federal government uses for court-authorized network wiretapping requests. For months or longer, the hackers might have held access to network infrastructure used to cooperate with lawful U.S. requests for communications data, according to ...

  • DHS: Cyber Cops Stopped 500 Ransomware Hacks Since 2021

    October 4, 2024

    A cybercrime-focused division of the US Department of Homeland Security says it has disrupted more than 500 ransomware attacks and seized billions of dollars in cryptocurrency since 2021. The ongoing effort from Homeland Security Investigations, which investigates cybercrime and illicit transnational activity, involves proactively notifying government agencies, companies and other potential victims that an extortion event ...

  • About a quarter million Comcast subscribers had their data stolen from debt collector

    October 4, 2024

    Comcast says data on 237,703 of its customers was in fact stolen in a cyberattack on a debt collector it was using, contrary to previous assurances it was given that it was unaffected by that intrusion. That collections agency, Financial Business and Consumer Solutions aka FBCS, was compromised in February, and according to a filing with ...

  • CISA flags major Ivanti security flaw – patch now

    October 3, 2024

    The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has added a known Ivanti bug to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, signalling that it’s being actively abused in the wild. The bug that was just added is an SQL Injection vulnerability, found this spring in the Core server of Ivanti Endpoint Manager (EPM) 2022 SU5 and ...

  • Principles of operational technology cyber security

    October 1, 2024

    Critical infrastructure organisations provide vital services, including supplying clean water, energy, and transportation, to the public. These organisations rely on operational technology (OT) to control and manage the physical equipment and processes that provide these critical services. As such, the continuity of vital services relies on critical infrastructure organisations ensuring the cyber security and safety ...