Tag Archive for: town

Baseless fraud claims are hurting election security in this Michigan town

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Welcome to The Cybersecurity 202! Cybersecurity Awareness Month is officially over. Thanks for sticking with this newsletter as we enter National Fun with Fondue Month. 

Below: An Iran-linked hacking group is threatening to out those using an Israeli LGBT dating app, and Microsoft won a big NSA cloud-computing contract. 

Trump-backed conspiracy theories are endangering election security in another small town



(Amanda Voisard/for The Washington Post)

© Amanda Voisard/for The Washington Post
(Amanda Voisard/for The Washington Post)

A second local election official who parroted former president Donald Trump’s baseless election fraud claims is now under police investigation for how she handled voting equipment.

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Stephanie Scott (R), clerk of tiny Adams Township in Michigan, potentially made her township’s election equipment more vulnerable to hacking when she allegedly removed a tablet from an election machine that counts votes from paper ballots and may have tampered with it before police recovered it, the Associated Press reported.

Whaaaat?

A few days earlier, state officials barred Scott from running her township’s elections after she resisted signing off on state-required logic and accuracy testing for election equipment. Scott has echoed conspiracy theories from Trump, saying she doesn’t trust the election equipment and suggested the testing may have been cover for state officials to rig vote tabulators. 

“The county clerk’s office and now Secretary of State are demanding I drop off my machine for unfettered access, and God only knows doing what to it,” she told the nonprofit news organization Michigan Bridge. “When you have the fox guarding the hen house, somebody’s got to stand up and guard those hens.”

Scott also blocked a contractor from performing preventive maintenance on voting equipment. 

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) ordered the clerk in neighboring Hillsdale County to supervise Adams Township elections after Scott was stripped of the responsibility. 

“The secretary will continue fighting to hold accountable anyone who threatens the integrity or security of Michigan elections,” a Benson spokeswoman said. 

Facts

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CSM Velocity Center Joins Town Of Indian Head’s 101st Anniversary Festivities Sept. 25, Showcases ‘Art Of Innovation’ With Activities And Fun | thebaynet.com | TheBayNet.com

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INDIAN HEAD, Md. – The College of Southern Maryland (CSM) is joining in the day-long festivities to celebrate the 101st anniversary of the Town of Indian Head Sept. 25 by hosting the “Art of Innovation” at the CSM Velocity Center. The public is invited to visit the Velocity Center throughout the day to enjoy an art exhibit, musical improvisation, games of giant Jenga, face painting and see presentations highlighting innovative technologies including robotics, 3-D printing and prototypes. Visitors will also have the chance to learn about the accomplishments of the Talons, CSM’s nationally ranked robotics team, and meet members of CSM’s Society of Women Engineers and National Society of Black Engineers.


“We couldn’t be more excited to spend the day in Indian Head to commemorate the town’s historic milestone and host a day of fun and community fellowship,” said CSM Associate Vice President of Continuing Education and Workforce Development Ellen Flowers-Fields. “We are very proud of the Velocity Center and the role that our community college plays in support of the Navy and in the economic revival of the Town of Indian Head. We are eager to show it off and meet our neighbors and visitors face-to-face.”


The CSM Velocity Center – where education and innovation meet – opened its doors one year ago during a Sept. 17, 2020 socially distant ribbon-cutting ceremony before about 1,300 Facebook Live onlookers.  At the time, the Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division was marking its 130th anniversary and the Town of Indian Head was marking its 100th anniversary, but the Navy and the town were unable to celebrate their milestones in grand fashion due to pandemic restrictions.


The Town of Indian Head’s Sept. 25 activities to celebrate its 1920 incorporation and commemorate its centennial anniversary – plus one year – include a parade, amusement rides, live entertainment and a firework show in around the Village Green Park & Pavilion and the Indian Head Senior Center. The town’s events start at 9 a.m. and end after dark.


The Velocity Center’s ‘Art of Innovation’ activities will be held 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. In addition to…

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Ransomware Hackers Attack N.C. Town for More Than a Month

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(TNS) — Over the past six weeks, the town of Sunset Beach was attacked by a series of ransomware hacks, officials said.

Sunset Beach officials did not disclose how much money those responsible were seeking and said they did not communicate with them at all.

The revelation came out last week during a town council meeting when Planning Director Chad Staradumsky was questioned about the progress of the town’s floodplain permits.


“All my floodplain permits … were part of that hacking,” Staradumsky said.

Sunset Beach Mayor Shannon Phillips confirmed the hacks, saying the town was having “technology problems,” but directed questions to interim Town Administrator Lisa Anglin.

“I know they’ve been having some problems with the computers, but I don’t know the details of it,” Phillips said.

At the meeting, Anglin said the town’s IT department was able to recover 99% of their documents.

“Our issue was ransomware that came in through a port that is no longer used,” Anglin wrote in an email. “Fortunately we have our entire computer system backed up daily, so we were able to restore our system to the prior day.”

The only information lost were files stored on desktops rather than the town’s server, and government operations were not affected other than having to recreate some documents, Anglin said.

No outside agencies, like the FBI, became involved.

“Our IT group has installed equipment and software to prevent anyone from accessing our system in the future,” Anglin said.

The Sunset Beach hacking is the latest in an increase of cyber attacks against critical infrastructure — including local governments — with many being asked for payment in exchange for their hacked information.

According to a Temple University study, the number of critical infrastructure ransomware attacks have increased dramatically in the last two years. The university tracked more than 520 such attacks in 2020 and the first six months of 2021 alone, compared to 437 in the previous four years combined.

In North Carolina, the Chatham and Onlsow County governments, the cities of Greenville and Durham and the N.C. State Bar have all been targeted for ransomware…

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Security Guard Critically Injured After West Town Shooting, Police Say – NBC Chicago

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A 22-year-old security guard is in critical condition after he was shot while reporting to work in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood on Sunday morning.

According to Chicago police, the man was reporting to work in the 100 block of South Western Avenue at approximately 6:21 a.m. when several men walked up to him and attempted to rob him.

The individuals then opened fire, striking the man in his upper right thigh and his lower leg. The guard returned fire, but it’s unclear whether anyone was hit by the gunfire.

The security guard was taken to a local hospital, where he was initially reported to be in critical condition, police said.

An investigation into the shooting remains ongoing.

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