Tag Archive for: battle

With the increase of cybercrime, local governments face in uphill battle in hardening digital defenses

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What would a small community do if its school district’s network was attacked by ransomware? What about if a municipally managed wastewater treatment plant in a rural county was shut down by a digital onslaught initiated by organized cybercriminals operating a continent away? 

With cyberthreats increasingly targeting municipal frameworks, these are the types of questions that constituents should be asking—and ones that local administrators should be prepared to answer.  

“You’re talking about tens of millions of dollars being raised from these crimes. It’s become a big business,” said Bert Kashyap, CEO of the cybersecurity firm SecureW2, which advises local governments on cybersecurity. 

Two decades ago when Kashyap entered the industry, hackers “were playing around with malware, it was less of an organized crime type of thing. Now, it’s definitely gotten to the point where there are nation states protecting these folks, and cyber gangs are basically forming syndicates,” Kashyap said. 

Last year, for example, American government organizations were targeted by nearly 80 ransomware attacks, potentially impacting 71 million people, according to a from the consumer tech information site Comparitech.  

Recently, the Allen Independent School District in Texas was targeted with ransomware. The district refused to pay, according to reports, and parents of children in the school system have since received threatening emails warning their student’s private information will be released if the district doesn’t change course. And on Thursday, the cybersecurity firm Mandiant issued a report detailing how “an aggressive, financially motivated threat actor” that goes by FIN12 is specifically targeting “critical care functions. Almost 20 percent of directly observed FIN12 victims were in the health care industry.” 

Faced with this rapidly emerging threat, Kashyap says most of the administrators he’s talked to and advised say they’re not prepared. 

“Everyone from school district (managers) to other local officials tell us they’re concerned,” he said. “Especially with the ransomware threats, when you have a situation (that)…

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In Ransomware Battle, Bitcoin May Actually Be an Ally

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Critical Infrastructure Security
,
Endpoint Security
,
Fraud Management & Cybercrime

Webs of Criminality Are Recorded on Bitcoin’s Blockchain

Jeremy Kirk
(jeremy_kirk)

•
June 17, 2021    

In Ransomware Battle, Bitcoin May Actually Be an Ally
A bitcoin mining facility in Farnham, Canada, run by Bitfarms. (Photo: Bitfarms)

The role of bitcoin in the ransomware payments pipeline is clear: it’s enabled fast, enormous payments with some degree of privacy.

See Also: Live Webinar | The Role of Passwords in the Hybrid Workforce


How to deal with bitcoin and other crytocurrencies in the battle against ransomware is the subject of a spirited debate. Some have labelled bitcoin as a prominent foe and, as in this Wall Street Journal opinion piece, called to ban it. Others say the payment method used for ransoms is largely a red herring. If bitcoin was gone, the traditional banking system would be used.


What should be done about bitcoin in the battle against ransomware? Actually, the status quo isn’t so bad. 

Disrupting the flow of money to criminal enterprises is a traditional law enforcement technique. If the money stops flowing, or it becomes too onerous or risky to get paid, criminals tend to move to the next scheme that satisfies the risk-reward balance.


Policy makers and governments are looking for disruptive levers to slow a siege against businesses and critical infrastructure. Ransomware has reached a scale that it’s becoming a political problem for leaders and a tense…

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New Zealand’s hospitals battle daily cyber attacks: Ministry of Health

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Waikato DHB’s IT system has faced major disruption since Tuesday morning. Photo / Alan Gibson

New Zealand’s health network battles against cyber assaults every day, officials have confirmed after a major attack led surgeries to be postponed at all Waikato public hospitals this week.

The Ministry of Health also said Tuesday’s attack – which brought the Waikato District Health Board’s entire IT system down – did not appear linked to another major assault on Ireland’s health network recently.

The Waikato DHB has said it will not be able to fix its IT network until the weekend after Monday’s attack disrupted emails, phone lines and other services.

Waikato DHB chief executive Kevin Snee earlier told news outlet RNZ the attack appeared to enter the health provider’s network’s system through an email attachment.

The Ministry of Health said it was now working with the DHB and National Cyber Security Centre as well as an “external specialist cyber security company” to recover from the attack.

And it appeared Tuesday’s attack was unlikely to be the last major attack New Zealand’s hospitals would face.

“All DHBS face cyber attacks in various forms daily,” a Ministry of Health spokeswoman said.

“For security reasons, we will not be commenting on the response to the Waikato DHB incident in greater detail at this time.”

Cyber attacks have been increasingly making headlines in recent years, including with the major ransomware attack on Ireland’s health network last Friday and another ransomware attack that shut down a major fuel pipeline in the United States this week.

Against the growing cyber threat, the Ministry of Health said it had advised DHBs to ask staff to be particularly vigilant when using the internet.

“DHBs have been asked to go through their IT systems looking for patterns of a similar event,” the ministry’s spokeswoman said.

“They have also been asked to again check their anti-virus and other security systems are up to date and can protect their systems from a cyber attack.”

“Staff are being urged to be extra careful clicking on links or attachments in emails, especially from people they don’t know.”

The Ministry’s Data and Digital team had also encouraged DHBs to have a plan…

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Report on Antrim County error keeps battle over records going in lingering election lawsuit

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William Bailey of Central Lake Township is again accusing Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson of is withholding records she’s been ordered to turn over as part of an ongoing election fraud lawsuit in Antrim County.

This has become a theme in the lawsuit filed by Bailey in November alleging election fraud in Antrim County and potentially across the state.

Both sides say the other isn’t providing information or access to witnesses for depositions. Bailey’s attorney, Matthew S. DePerno, claims he can’t prepare witnesses for deposition until he has all of the election information from Benson’s office.

Attorneys for Benson have said they’ve provided nearly everything requested, but DePerno now alleges a report Benson’s office publicly released on March 26 proves that’s not true.

In a Friday court filing that asks Antrim County Circuit Judge Kevin Elsenheimer to extend the discovery window, DePerno said the 54-page report in question “clearly relies on information previously requested” but not yet disclosed.

Bailey’s lawsuit focuses largely on Dominion Voting Systems tabulation machines and software that initially reported incorrect unofficial elections results in Antrim County, indicating former President Donald Trump lost the Republican-leaning county.

It was later determined by county and state officials that the mistakes were caused by human error, rather than any intentional software deficiencies or fraud as the lawsuit alludes.

The report produced by J. Alex Halderman, a computer security and systems specialist and professor at the University of Michigan, entitled “Analysis of the Antrim County, Michigan November 2020 Election Incident”, takes a deeper look at the cited reasons for the errors.

“The explanations provided by the county [and the Department of State are correct that the inaccurate unofficial results were a consequence of human errors, but the problems were somewhat more complicated than initially understood,” Halderman wrote. “The human errors that initiated the incident were compounded by gaps in election procedures and their adherence.

“The election software also could have done more to help election staff avoid making mistakes that could…

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