Texas government organisations hit by ransomware attack

[Kushinator]

Hackers have infected 23 organisations connected to local government in the US state of Texas with ransomware.

Officials indicated the attack over the weekend was co-ordinated. The Texas Department of Information said the attack had primarily affected smaller local government departments. A spokesman said the situation was still ongoing on Monday morning. Texan authorities have drafted in cyber-security experts, as well as the military and counter-terrorism units, to help bring systems back online. In a statement, the Texas Department of Information Resources said evidence suggested the attacks "came from one single threat actor".

The rest of the article can be found here.

​IMO, such attacks will become more and more common with the continued integration of information and communication systems. It's just not small government offices and systems that vulnerable. This past May, the city of Baltimore was ravaged by a similar attack, where a hacker demanded ₿13 for removal of the data encryption that had locked the city out of it's own systems. They refused to pay the ransom. For what would have been roughly $100k at the time, ended up costing the city an estimated $18 million to re-establish payment systems and city email. One hundred years ago, people with guns would hold up banks with the hope of getting bags of cash. When they were gone, they were probably never coming back. Now if you pay the ransom to free up your data/systems, it's likely your name/organization will wind up on darkweb lists of vulnerable and paying victims.

 

[Rogue Valley]

And "Moscow" Mitch McConnell is sitting on passed House bills that would strengthen US cyber and election security.

He won't put any such security bills forward due to Trumps "sensitivity" regarding the Russian election meddling of 2016. As always, Trump above country.

Why is Mitch McConnell blocking election security bills?

 

[Phys251]

The rest of the article can be found here.

​IMO, such attacks will become more and more common with the continued integration of information and communication systems. It's just not small government offices and systems that vulnerable. This past May, the city of Baltimore was ravaged by a similar attack, where a hacker demanded ₿13 for removal of the data encryption that had locked the city out of it's own systems. They refused to pay the ransom. For what would have been roughly $100k at the time, ended up costing the city an estimated $18 million to re-establish payment systems and city email. One hundred years ago, people with guns would hold up banks with the hope of getting bags of cash. When they were gone, they were probably never coming back. Now if you pay the ransom to free up your data/systems, it's likely your name/organization will wind up on darkweb lists of vulnerable and paying victims.

This is why we need cybersecurity, Moscow Mitch!

 

[Hatuey]

Texans don't need cybersecurity.

That's for ******s.

Sent from the Matrioshka in the WH Christmas tree.

 

[SheWolf]

And "Moscow" Mitch McConnell is sitting on passed House bills that would strengthen US cyber and election security.

He won't put any such security bills forward due to Trumps "sensitivity" regarding the Russian election meddling of 2016. As always, Trump above country.

Why is Mitch McConnell blocking election security bills?

He has no excuse. I have never seen a better example of somebody who deserves to lose their senate seat. The man is a miserable failure

 

[SheWolf]

Texans don't need cybersecurity.

That's for ******s.

Sent from the Matrioshka in the WH Christmas tree.

Somebody just messed with Texas

 

[OrphanSlug]

Happening more and more... and clearly many are not prepared for it.

 

[Chomsky]

The rest of the article can be found here.

​IMO, such attacks will become more and more common with the continued integration of information and communication systems. It's just not small government offices and systems that vulnerable. This past May, the city of Baltimore was ravaged by a similar attack, where a hacker demanded ₿13 for removal of the data encryption that had locked the city out of it's own systems. They refused to pay the ransom. For what would have been roughly $100k at the time, ended up costing the city an estimated $18 million to re-establish payment systems and city email. One hundred years ago, people with guns would hold up banks with the hope of getting bags of cash. When they were gone, they were probably never coming back. Now if you pay the ransom to free up your data/systems, it's likely your name/organization will wind up on darkweb lists of vulnerable and paying victims.

The thing is, from my limited understanding of these viruses, it appears there needs to be some reciprocal human component involved. One needs to open a file, follow a link, divulge information, install an app, or some-such.

So why aren't our civil servants trained and monitored in the techniques of proper internet techniques & behaviours? Do we - the public - click on unknown emails, or open anonymous files or divulge our personal information to strangers? Of course not! So why are our public employees doing it?

 

[Carjosse]

The thing is, from my limited understanding of these viruses, it appears there needs to be some reciprocal human component involved. One needs to open a file, follow a link, divulge information, install an app, or some-such.

So why aren't our civil servants trained and monitored in the techniques of proper internet techniques & behaviours? Do we - the public - click on unknown emails, or open anonymous files or divulge our personal information to strangers? Of course not! So why are our public employees doing it?

You don't necessarily need the human component depending on a lot of variables or they might not even know they are doing it. People do that stuff all the time, you can only only do so much to overcome human stupidity and inexperience. If these scams and malware did not work they would not exist.

You can make a system idiot proof but the world will just create a better idiot.

 

[OpportunityCost]

And "Moscow" Mitch McConnell is sitting on passed House bills that would strengthen US cyber and election security.

He won't put any such security bills forward due to Trumps "sensitivity" regarding the Russian election meddling of 2016. As always, Trump above country.

Why is Mitch McConnell blocking election security bills?

Why is he blocking it? Because it contains things such as universal registration, motor voter provisions and stringent voter roll purging conditions.

If Democrats want just cyber security maybe they should pass just a cyber security bill, and not a bunch of provisions they know McConnell wont touch.

 

[Rogue Valley]

Why is he blocking it? Because it contains things such as universal registration, motor voter provisions and stringent voter roll purging conditions.

If Democrats want just cyber security maybe they should pass just a cyber security bill, and not a bunch of provisions they know McConnell wont touch.

Citations. And not Breitbart etc.

 

[Chomsky]

You don't necessarily need the human component depending on a lot of variables or they might not even know they are doing it. People do that stuff all the time, you can only only do so much to overcome human stupidity and inexperience. If these scams and malware did not work they would not exist.

You can make a system idiot proof but the world will just create a better idiot.

Yes. But when the idiot is placed in a position to take down a government I.T. infrastructure, I would think we should at least insist they become a reasonably trained idiot.

 

[OpportunityCost]

Citations. And not Breitbart etc.

There was a post on this forum about a cyber security bill and outrage over McConnell not signing it. It contained the things I mentioned and several more.

McConnell won't allow vote on election reform bill - POLITICO This one back in March.

More recently:

2020 election security: GOP senators block bills hours after Mueller warns of Russian interference - CNNPolitics

The one from March had tons of Democrat policy in it if you care to research it, I already did.

 

[Carjosse]

Yes. But when the idiot is placed in a position to take down a government I.T. infrastructure, I would think we should at least insist they become a reasonably trained idiot.

Then you will never fill that position. You need to take precautions. There are a lot of CEOs that need to be treated like children when it comes to technology.

 

[Rogue Valley]

There was a post on this forum about a cyber security bill and outrage over McConnell not signing it. It contained the things I mentioned and several more.

McConnell won't allow vote on election reform bill - POLITICO This one back in March.

----

When asked at a news conference why he wasn’t bringing the House electoral reform bill to the Senate floor, McConnell said, with a grin, "Because I get to decide what we vote on.”

The legislation contains a series of voting reforms Democrats have long pushed for, including automatic voter registration, expansion of early voting, endorsement of D.C. statehood and a requirement that independent commissions oversee House redistricting. In addition, the bill requires “dark money” groups to disclose donors.

It becomes clear why the GOP doesn't like that bill.

More recently:

2020 election security: GOP senators block bills hours after Mueller warns of Russian interference - CNNPolitics

The one from March had tons of Democrat policy in it if you care to research it, I already did.

Two of those bills would require campaigns to report to federal authorities any attempts by foreign entities to interfere in US elections, and the third is aimed at protecting from hackers the personal accounts and devices of senators and some staffers.

Again, I see nothing at all wrong with such initiatives. It's bad because the Trump campaign would have to report meeting again with Russians?

---------------------

Where are any GOP bills protecting our elections? The DHS says we are under attack now and they need more resources.

Crickets from Moscow Mitch and the GOP.

 

[OpportunityCost]

There was a post on this forum about a cyber security bill and outrage over McConnell not signing it. It contained the things I mentioned and several more.

McConnell won't allow vote on election reform bill - POLITICO This one back in March.

----





It becomes clear why the GOP doesn't like that bill.






Again, I see nothing at all wrong with such initiatives. It's bad because the Trump campaign would have to report meeting again with Russians?

---------------------

Where are any GOP bills protecting our elections? The DHS says we are under attack now and they need more resources.

Crickets from Moscow Mitch and the GOP.

Now, pretend that you really don't know what's in those bills. It won't be hard, you really don't. Go look at the actual text and/or find some cross referencing of what's really in them.

 

[Chomsky]

Then you will never fill that position. You need to take precautions. There are a lot of CEOs that need to be treated like children when it comes to technology.

I'm talking government employees, here. Give 'em a quick half-day seminar on safe computing. Like what us parents do to our kids.

 

[Carjosse]

I'm talking government employees, here. Give 'em a quick half-day seminar on safe computing. Like what us parents do to our kids.

Not going to change much, you have to remember these people have been doing the same thing for decades, they are not going to be open to new information. The same is true in both public and private organizations. Even tech-savvy companies like Google struggle with this. I worked for a defense contractor as an intern and they had to regularly remind people about phishing, etc.

 

[Chomsky]

Not going to change much, you have to remember these people have been doing the same thing for decades, they are not going to be open to new information. The same is true in both public and private organizations. Even tech-savvy companies like Google struggle with this. I worked for a defense contractor as an intern and they had to regularly remind people about phishing, etc.

I don't believe the bolded at all. A safe-computing initiative can have "reasonable" impact. Obviously, nothing is foolproof. The world is not comprised of absolutes. Rather, it is comprised of variables.

So,

"don't let 'perfect' be the enemy of 'good'"

 

[Carjosse]

I don't believe the bolded at all. A safe-computing initiative can have "reasonable" impact. Obviously, nothing is foolproof. The world is not comprised of absolutes. Rather, it is comprised of variables.

So,

"don't let 'perfect' be the enemy of 'good'"

I am not opposing but it will not be as effective as you think it will be. You are talking about people who will just stop working if their email client moves an icon, it takes a lot of reinforcement of that learning, and you need better protections to protect the network for when people ultimately mess up.

 

[What if...?]

Why is he blocking it? Because it contains things such as universal registration, motor voter provisions and stringent voter roll purging conditions.

If Democrats want just cyber security maybe they should pass just a cyber security bill, and not a bunch of provisions they know McConnell wont touch.

Yeah.

I mean without voter suppression and gerrymandering the Republican party would be swirling around the drain of history.

 

[What if...?]

Now, pretend that you really don't know what's in those bills. It won't be hard, you really don't. Go look at the actual text and/or find some cross referencing of what's really in them.

Just a bunch of crap that attempts to make our representative democracy more accurately reflect the will of the people.

****ing asshole democrats.

 

[3leftsdoo]

The thing is, from my limited understanding of these viruses, it appears there needs to be some reciprocal human component involved. One needs to open a file, follow a link, divulge information, install an app, or some-such.

So why aren't our civil servants trained and monitored in the techniques of proper internet techniques & behaviours? Do we - the public - click on unknown emails, or open anonymous files or divulge our personal information to strangers? Of course not! So why are our public employees doing it?

Not at all.

 

[OpportunityCost]

Yeah.

I mean without voter suppression and gerrymandering the Republican party would be swirling around the drain of history.

Who can argue with all those feels?

 

[OpportunityCost]

Just a bunch of crap that attempts to make our representative democracy more accurately reflect the will of the people.

****ing asshole democrats.

Who wouldn't want universal voter registration with 20million non citizens in the country? Democrats that's who. Don't pretend to hold the moral high ground when you want to advocate for stealing elections.