The United States government, states, municipalities, and private companies all have been trying to defend themselves from cyber warfare from foreign adversarial governments, including Russia, China, and North Korea, for years—actually, for decades. Even when I started practicing full time in this area of law in the early 2000s, we were talking about not traveling
Municipalities
School System Victimized by Second Ransomware Attack in Months
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Cybersecurity
The Wolcott school system in Wolcott, Connecticut has been recovering for four months from a ransomware attack that hit its system at the end of the school year. Last week, it was hit with a second attack. According to reports, the cyber criminals behind the recent ransomware attack were holding teacher lesson plans hostage. The…
Municipalities and School Systems: Educate Your Employees
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in New + Now
The pace and number of cyber-attacks against municipalities and school systems is staggering and likes of which we have never seen. Municipalities and school systems are obvious targets for cyber criminals as it is well known that resources are scarce to implement measures to combat cyber-attacks.
Nearly all of the attacks that we’ve written about…
Colleges and Universities at Risk for Cyber-Attacks as School Year Starts
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Cybersecurity
It’s a busy time for colleges and universities as the fall semester starts and campuses are bustling with activity. It’s also the perfect time for cyber criminals to create mayhem for institutions of higher education with a cyber-attack.
That is exactly what happened to Regis University in Denver, Colorado. The university had to shut down…
Twenty-three Texas Municipalities Crushed by Coordinated Ransomware Attack
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Cybersecurity
We have definitely seen an uptick in the number of ransomware attacks against municipalities around the country. Thus far, the attacks have been against single cities, towns, and court systems, and recently against a Louisiana school system.
The pace and coordination of these attacks have magnified, as evidenced by the coordinated and simultaneous…
Can You Really Protect Against Ransomware?
By Robinson+Cole's Data Privacy + Cybersecurity Team on
Posted in New + Now
We’ve written a few times recently about municipalities, companies, and government agencies hit with ransomware attacks this year. In early July, it was reported that a court system in Georgia was attacked with ransomware, causing lawyers, court employees and the public to have to rely on “old school” paper to file pleadings and keep…
Louisiana Governor Declares Statewide Emergency After Cyber-Attacks Against School Systems
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Cybersecurity
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, for the first time in history, declared a statewide cybersecurity emergency last week, following cyber-attacks against several school systems in the state.
By declaring a cybersecurity emergency, the state is able to garner needed resources, including cybersecurity experts from the Louisiana National Guard, State Police, the Office of Technology Services,…
Florida Municipalities Getting Hammered with Ransomware
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Cybersecurity
Security researchers have warned municipalities repeatedly about how they are being targeted with ransomware, that they are at high risk, and the need to make data security a high priority.
Municipalities are unfortunately only taking heed now that recent ransomware campaigns are in the news and bringing some municipalities to their knees [view related posts…
Jackson County, Georgia Pays Hackers $400,000 After Ransomware Attack
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Cybersecurity
Cities and towns continue to be a profitable target for successful ransomware attacks. As we previously reported [view related posts], the list of cities and towns getting hit with ransomware attacks continues to grow.
Last week, Jackson County, Georgia admitted that it paid hackers $400,000 to obtain access to its information that was locked…
Sammamish, Washington Declares Emergency After Ransomware Attack
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Cybersecurity
I was a speaker at a recent conference of municipalities in a state last week, and during my presentation, I mentioned the various cyber-attacks that have affected cities, towns and educational departments in the U.S. (Atlanta, GA; Farmington, CT; West Haven, CT; Leeds, AL; Yarrow Point, WA; and Leominster, MA to name a few). Little…