Tag Archive for: Incident

‘It’s not ideal’: Kansas lawmakers talk security incident that took down online court access

/in


TOPEKA — A dragon spitting fire at the Kansas statehouse, depicted in a Vincent Van Goh style, illuminated the possibilities of Artificial Intelligence to lawmakers during a Wednesday meeting.

An overview of AI creative designs provided some levity before legislators turned to discussion of the state’s changing internet landscape — one that IT officials have repeatedly warned needs to be better secured.

“I’d like to improve our ability to respond and recover from cyber incidents, including testing, tracking and training for known unlikely eventualities,” said Michael Murphy, security engineer with the Kansas Legislative Office of Information Technology.

Murphy said he and other legislative IT staff would look into system security upgrades and improvements before the upcoming legislative session.

“The first priority right now is security awareness training,” Murphy said. “Like I said, the biggest point of failure is going to be the people. So we need to make sure everybody’s trained up on how to do things properly.”

The renewed discussion on internet security comes after a “security incident” that shut down online operations for most of the state’s courts. Kansas’ judicial branch publicly announced the issue on Oct. 12, later indicating that clerks in 104 counties were unable to receive online filings. The Johnson County District Court, which operates its own e-filing and case management system separately from the state, is the only state district court not affected.

While courts are still operating, all filings have to be submitted in paper. The investigation into the incident is ongoing, with little information publicly released.

“We also have to figure out how to stop these bad actors from doing things that screw everything up, like they’ve done in judiciary,” said committee lawmaker Rep. Barb Wasinger, R-Hays, before lawmakers withdrew to speak privately about judiciary IT security during an executive session.

Though last year’s risk assessment of the state’s court system has been earmarked as confidential, previous audits of several state agencies have shown several weaknesses. A cybersecurity…

Source…

Chilean government warns of Black Basta ransomware attacks after customs incident

/in


The government of Chile warned of ransomware attacks by a notorious gang of hackers after its customs department dealt with an incident on Tuesday.

Officials from Chile’s Servicio Nacional de Aduanas de Chile – the government department in charge of foreign trade, imports and more – said on Tuesday afternoon that they were able to prevent a cyberattack from progressing after discovering the incident.

“After detecting a security incident on our computer teams, we have taken all necessary preventive measures to not expose our computer teams and systems to potential vulnerabilities,” they said on several social media sites.

“All security measures and protocols established by the Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) of Ministerio del Interior y Seguridad Pública are already in place. Thanks to the work of our IT teams, this incident will not affect the operational continuity of the Service and we are taking all necessary measures to continue operating at the different control points in the country.”

In a follow-up message, the country’s Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) confirmed it was a ransomware attack and specified that the incident involved the Black Basta ransomware group — which has added dozens of new victims to its leak site this week.

The CSIRT warned all of the country’s government bodies that the ransomware was found “in a limited part of the digital infrastructure of the National Customs Service.”

They urged all government agencies to verify that backup copies of systems are protected and separated from the rest of the network. Agencies also need to audit the number of administrative accounts and more generally limit the number of people with administrative permissions.

They provided a range of other actions that should be taken as the…

Source…

Security incident targets computer network used by STL area police

/in



Police sources tell FOX 2 a computer information network they use on a regular basis is temporarily unavailable. A spokesperson for the Regional Justice Information System (REJIS) confirmed there was …

Source…

Security incident targets computer network used by STL area police – FOX 2

/in


Tim Ezell and Joe Millitzer discuss the latest trending topics. These items are among the top stories on FOX2Now.com.

iPhone 12 emits too much radiation

France orders Apple to halt iPhone 12 sales, citing radiation levels above EU standards.
iPhone 12 didn’t pass tests for radiation absorbed by the body, prompting action.
Radiation levels, though exceeding EU standards, remain much lower than harmful thresholds.
National Frequency Agency wants Apple to fix it via updates, warns of a potential recall.
Cellphone radiation is below harm levels; experts suggest using earphones or texting for safety.

Man steals $64K from St. Louis-area Walmarts with a magic trick

A man is charged with stealing $64,000+ from Walmart, including St. Louis stores.
He faces wire fraud and theft charges, arrested on Sept. 5, pleaded not guilty.
He would make a small purchase, then claim that he collects money, typically $100 bills. He asked cashiers to show him bills in the cash register, so he could examine them, and then surreptitiously place some of the bills into his sleeve or pocket.
Conviction could mean up to 30 years in prison and $500,000 in fines.

Three Missouri cities ranked among ‘best hometowns’ in nation

Hannibal, Kirksville, and Saint Joseph make the list for their community, affordability, and charm.
All three cities are in the northern part of the state, with varying populations.
Factors like diversity, farmers’ markets, history, and high school football were considered in their community scores.
Hannibal, home to Mark Twain, ranks among the Top 10 hometowns with affordable homes and a strong overall score.
Kirksville excels in student-to-teacher ratio, while St. Joseph stands out for history and farmers markets.

Source…