Thursday, August 22, 2019

"This has been the summer of crippling ransomware attacks"

NYT:
Wilmer — a town of almost 5,000 people just south of Dallas — is one of 22 cities across Texas that are simultaneously being held hostage for millions of dollars after a sophisticated hacker, perhaps a group of them, infiltrated their computer systems and encrypted their data.

...

In Georgia alone in recent months, the tally of victims has been stunning: the city of Atlanta. The state’s Department of Public Safety. State and local court systems. A major hospital. A county government. A police department for a city of 30,000 people.

The Department of Public Safety was hit particularly hard and continues to feel the effects of an attack discovered on July 26. The computer network remains down. Every device, including laptops and tablets, is being examined and reconfigured. Much of the email system cannot be entered. State troopers are unable to use computer systems in their patrol cars