Today’s world is dramatically different than even five years ago. Ransomware attacks, which used to make global headlines, are now commonplace. Cybercriminals—who have historically targeted large enterprises—are now also setting their sights on state and local governments.
New, sophisticated cyberattacks are bypassing traditional, signature-based antivirus solutions at an alarming rate. More than 60% of attacks are not malware-based. And even those that are have become much more sophisticated than ever before. Even phishing attacks, which used to be laughably detectable, have become convincing.
Recently, we’ve seen high-profile attacks against major U.S. cities, and the damages from these attacks have totaled in the millions of dollars. For example, the City of Pensacola, Florida was hit with a ransomware attack in early December 2019. The Maze ransomware variant was used, and the hackers threatened to release data if $1M in ransom was not paid. To add insult to injury, this attack occurred days after a shooting at a nearby Naval Base. Experts estimate that it may take six months to a year for the city, which was mostly shut down, to recover from this hack. No one knows if the city paid the hackers or not, but we do know they paid the consulting firm Deloitte upwards of $140K to fix the issue.
Other cities in the news for December attacks include New Orleans; the city of Galt, CA near Sacramento; and St Lucie, Florida. All attacks are costly in terms of productivity, city image, and potential privacy concerns.
These types of attacks are not new, per se. What is new is how often attackers take advantage of smaller, more vulnerable entities. We continue to see new attacks on state, city, county, and local governments, which sheds light on the need for more comprehensive cybersecurity protection and awareness. Communities must begin to defend themselves as the US is facing a cyberinsurgency.
To learn more about how state and local governments can keep themselves safe from cybercrime, download the whitepaper.
