Tag Archive for: stance

Hackers targeted Fort Worth’s cyber system over Texas’ gender surgery stance, city officials say

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The City of Fort Worth believes it was targeted by cybercriminals because of Texas’ stance on sex reassignment surgery, officials said.

The city’s Information Technology Solutions department learned about a post claiming that the city’s website was hacked on Friday, according to FOX 4 Dallas. They believe the hacker group SeigedSec, who allegedly posted about the incident on Telegram, was behind the attack.

“We have decided to make a message toward the U.S. Government, Texas happens to be one of the largest states banning gender-affirming care and for that we have made Texas a target,” the post allegedly said, according to city officials. 

Earlier this month, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill that banned gender transitioning treatment for minors, including sex reassignment surgeries and cross-sex hormones.

TEXAS TEEN, GIRLFRIEND HIRED GUNMAN TO KILL MAN’S JEWELER FATHER, POLICE SAY

Exterior of Fort Worth City Hall

The City of Fort Worth’s Information Technology Solutions Department discovered a post claiming that the city’s website was hacked on Friday. (FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth)

The information that was hacked pertained to work orders in the city’s system, such as invoices, emails between staff and spreadsheets. The IT department said all of the breached information would have been made public via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) order, if requested.

The hackers reportedly stole information from a website that tracked city orders, but no sensitive information was released.

“The City of Fort Worth has confirmed that the posted information did originate from our computer systems. However, the data came from a website that our workers use to manage their maintenance activities, not from the city’s public-facing internet website,” Fort Worth’s IT Solutions Director Kevin Gunn explained at a presser on Saturday.

“[There is] no indication that any other systems were accessed, nor any other evidence of sensitive information such as social security or banking information was accessed or released,” Gunn added.

TEXAS MAN PLEAD GUILTY IN MURDER-FOR-HIRE PLOT TO KILL HIS FATHER

Fort Worth, Texas skyline

The City of Fort Worth held a press conference regarding the hacking incident, claiming that no particularly sensitive information was accessed.…

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YC’s letter to founders, Apple’s folding device and the DOJ’s new stance on hackers

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Hi all!

Welcome back to Week in Review, our newsletter where we wrap up many of the top stories to hit TechCrunch over the last seven days.

The big thing this week, based on what people were reading most, were the details of a memo sent from Y Combinator to its portfolio founders.

As the markets continue to slide,YC is telling its portfolio founders that it’s time to batten down the hatches — cut costs, extend runway and get to a “default alive” state. “For those of you who have started your company within the last 5 years,” YC writes, “question what you believe to be the normal fundraising environment.”

Manish has the full 10-point email right here.

other things

Besides more bad news about the markets, what else was going on?

Apple testing a foldable?: Is Apple tinkering with the idea of folding phones and/or tablets? Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says Apple is testing E-Ink displays for the secondary display on an as-of-yet-unseen “future foldable”. As Brian points out, though, “there’s a big gulf between testing and releasing” — in other words, don’t be too surprised if this one never sees the light of day.

NHTSA probes Tesla crash: Earlier this month, a Tesla Model S “hit a curb and slammed into construction equipment”, killing three. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is now looking into the accident to determine if Tesla’s Autopilot system could’ve been involved.

DOJ says it will no longer prosecute good-faith hackers: After way, way, way too long, the U.S. Justice Department is re-evaluating how it looks at hacking cases, for the first time outright stating that “good-faith security research should not be charged” under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

Haje on Coke’s new bottle cap: “When [Coke] sends out a hand-wringing press release about how awesome they are for launching a bottle cap where the cap stays attached to the bottle ‘for environmental reasons,'” writes Haje, “I’m sorry, my blood just boils.”

PayPal Ventures alums launch a new fund: Within a few months of parting ways with PayPal Ventures, these three alums had raised a huge new fund of their own. The focus? Fintech, and backing “startups that address ‘the biggest hurdles’ in today’s…

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Calls for tougher stance toward Russia grow louder as ransomware attacks rage

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The excruciatingly slow gears of the U.S. government are starting to move with more urgency when it comes to dealing with geopolitical ransomware attacks.

The Colonial Pipeline hack and the ransomware breach of a major food processing facility in recent weeks, coupled with Windows server exploits and the still unfolding saga of an attack on oil company Saudi Aramco, have caught the attention of U.S. government leaders. The question now will be how the U.S. will respond to growing unease over the disruption of global commerce.

“There has been a sea change in the last two or three months in Congress with respect to how seriously policymakers are taking cybersecurity,” Rep. Jim Himes (D-Connecticut), said during a virtual panel discussion hosted by The Wilson Center this week. “Twelve years ago in this institution, if you said cybersecurity, people would look at you quizzically. Colonial Pipeline was different than the other stuff.”

Sheltering attackers

What has changed the dynamic for leaders in Washington and global capitals elsewhere is a growing belief that some nation-states are either behind the attacks or quietly supporting the criminal gangs that perpetrate them. The Colonial Pipeline attack, which disrupted supplies of oil and gas for the eastern half of the U.S. in May, has been attributed to DarkSide, a criminal gang operating out of Russia.

A ransomware attack on the food processing company JBS led to a disruption of meat supplies this summer and the group responsible has been identified as REvil, another Russian criminal group. This month, the Biden administration named the Chinese government as behind a cyberattack on Microsoft Exchange servers that compromised tens of thousands of networks worldwide.

The disruption caused by groups operating inside two large global superpowers has resulted in rising calls for action by U.S. authorities. Himes recently wrote an opinion piece for a Connecticut newspaper calling for the U.S. to “strike back” against cyberattackers.

In his remarks during the Wilson Center event this week, Himes suggested that the government should consider pursuit of wealthy interests inside of Russia. “We really need to establish a…

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