It s a fear for my life | State lawmakers react to potential armed protests at state capitols
Lawmakers, local, state and federal law enforcement agencies weigh in on the threats made about potentially violent protests in every state capitol. Author: Kailey Tracy Updated: 8:45 PM EST January 12, 2021
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Lawmakers and law enforcement across the country are on alert, preparing for potential armed protests.
It comes after the FBI sent a memo to law enforcement across the country warning of potential armed protests at all 50 state capitol buildings from Jan. 16 through Inauguration Day.
The FBI also said it has received information about a group calling for the storming of state, local and federal government courthouses and administrative buildings if President Donald Trump is removed from office before his term is up.
Philip Reiner, CEO of IST, which will head up the effort, anticipates the group will expand as word gets out and more companies and organizations join. Working groups will form after the first of the year, he says, and the task force will do much of its investigatory work in January and February. We intend to work quickly, Reiner says. We re looking to pool our resources and point out to people where they can get information about ransomware, plus have some clear ideas we can present in the form of new laws and funding required to combat ransomware.
There s little question that ransomware has had a powerful economic impact in the past year. Ransomware damages hit $11.5 billion in 2019 and are expected to be even higher for 2020 as Maze, Sodinokibi, Ryuk, Dharma, and many other strains hit especially hard.
December 21, 2020 By Jessica Mathews/News@whmi.com
Local Democrats say the computer systems of Livingston County and cities, school districts, and townships may be threatened by a recent cyberattack of key federal agencies by Russian operatives.
A press release from the Livingston County Democratic Party says Livingston Countyâs servers use the Orion Platform software from SolarWinds - the same third-party software vendor that managed the servers of multiple federal agencies including the Department of Homeland Security that were hacked earlier this year and their systems exposed.
Livingston Countyâs Information Services department approved SolarWinds last June, despite warnings by its outgoing IT officer that the product was overpriced and had security issues. For example, SolarWinds used a password âsolarwinds123â even though security experts routinely warn against using passwords that can be easily guessed. In June, the
Roosevelt High School in Portland, Oregon. The Portland Public Schools district is among the first members of K12 SIX. (Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
The automotive sector has its own Information Sharing & Analysis Center (ISAC). So do the aviation and maritime industries. They all represent forms of transportation, but no one would say they all face the exact same cyber threat scenarios.
So why have K-12 schools traditionally been lumped in with the public sector and higher education when it comes to ISAC activity? Local education districts have their own distinct challenges as they strive to protect themselves against digital threats. It only makes sense that they have an ISAC of their own.
Civilian Casualties: K-12 Schools Are Getting Hit With Cyberattacks
Many school districts rely on outdated equipment and software, which are easy to hack, putting children s sensitive data at risk.
Teachers in Baltimore County Public Schools knew something was wrong late in the day on Nov. 24 when they began to experience trouble entering grades into the school district’s computer system. Around the same time, the video for a meeting of the district’s school board abruptly cut off.
The episode was by no means isolated.
Rather, it was just one of several in an uptick of ransomware attacks in which cybercriminals have targeted public schools throughout the United States – from Hartford, Connecticut, to Huntsville, Alabama – since the 2020-21 school year began.