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Ransomware Attack Hits Local Governments In Texas

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  • birddog

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    Where this thread has gone is reminding me how far I have lagged from the leading edge of technology.

    Was there once. Not by a long shot anymore.

    I thought the same when virtualization was in its infancy. A server, that doesn’t really exist, that can hop around in the hardware it resides on for redundancy and load balancing, transparently to the users. But it’s not a real server that you can touch, or actually see. Except on a screen. Seriously? Do I need a magic wand to make it work?

    I thought my head was going to explode trying to make sense of it all. And it’s gotten much, much worse.

    Folks would be suprised at the level of ignorance that companies and entities have about their own IT environments.
    Lynx Defense
     

    birddog

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    They wanted payment by bitcoin.
    I did not pay.
    **** em, I don't pay terrorists.


    I had some stuff saved elsewhere, but lost everything else.

    Got a new computer.

    Use a bootable operating system iso on optical media with a usb drive to read and write data to, you reduce the risk of shenanigans tremendously.

    Or use an iPad.
     

    CyberWolf

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    Would this not be an act of war?
    In some circumstances, the answer is very likely yes; however, it's not that cut-and-dry. The real issues with that are related to Attribution and ambiguity with regard to applicable prosecutorial frameworks.

    For example, even if something like that originated at the Nation-State level, it may be exceedingly difficult to attribute the attack to a specific group with enough confidence to execute a fully-kinetic response (e.g. return the favor, blow the shit out of them, etc.). We also would have to consider the possibility of it being a set-up intended to initiate a retaliatory attack against an innocent party (ever read/see "The Sum of All Fears"?)

    Also, while we might immediately be inclined to believe a Nation-State was responsible, the truth is that a smaller group (or even an exceptionally capable & angry individual) may be responsible, and motove could be either ideological, monetary, or even a bit of both. Can you declare War on an individual or organized crime group? I'm not a lawyer, but my understanding is that would fall under criminal prosecution, Patriot Act, etc.

    Another consideration is that it may be a low-visibility/localized event with disproportional impact, and you'll never hear about it or even recognize it if you did (not going anywhere near even hypothetical examples on this one).
     

    txtanut

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    The entity I work for has been hit with ransomware more than once. So far each one was because someone clicked on a malicious link.

    I was reading an article about a guy that dropped flash drives in a hospital with a infected file and had good chunk of the drives stuck into local workstations and the file opened and gained access to the entire network.

    Most companies want security but do not want to pay for it. They like the illusion of security but do not really want to do what is needed to truly secure their networks and physical buildings. I caught a non company employee trying to tailgate into a secure area recently. Come to find out he was a contractor who was not allowed int secure areas without escort.
     

    birddog

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    Hence the reason for the groundswell of regulatory compliance not that long ago. And now look at it, it’s everywhere. As it should be in today’s day and age.

    If companies won’t step up to the plate and do what’s right, make them suffer for it. But they will pay. One way or another.

    An employee that clicks embedded links with abandon should be fired. That, will fix the troublemakers.
     

    CyberWolf

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    Hence the reason for the groundswell of regulatory compliance not that long ago. And now look at it, it’s everywhere. As it should be in today’s day and age.

    If companies won’t step up to the plate and do what’s right, make them suffer for it. But they will pay. One way or another.

    An employee that clicks embedded links with abandon should be fired. That, will fix the troublemakers.

    The regulatory landscape in this area has certainly come a long way, but not nearly far enough in my opinion.

    As a corrolary to the argument that an employee who refuses to follow instructions (or is just flat un-trainable; they do exist), and allows the compromise of systems/data through grossly negligent behavior should be fired (an argument which I wholeheartedly agree with), what really needs to start happening is for punative damages to be levied against the Sr. Executives/Board members - Personally - of organizations where grossly negligent behavior lead to a significant breach/loss.

    Call it Gross megligence, Breach of Feduciary Duty, whatever, but first and foremost, make it hit them personally.

    In the more severe cases where large segments of the population are adversely affected, or where the Org in question (suffering from ineffective and grossly negligent leadership) provides a product/service/function which is deemed critical to our national security or strategic interests, Gross Negligence with regard to cyber defense should lead to criminal prosecution as well. And not for the down-in-the-weeds admin (assuming no fault/under-resourced), but the C-Level/BoD individuals who are actually responsible and derelict in their duties.
     
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    TxStetson

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    The company I work for sends out fishing emails on a regular basis to keep us on our toes. Click the link in one of their “training” emails and you have to redo the general computer security training. Do it twice and your direct supervisor gets notified about it and you redo the training. The 3rd time you lose computer access for a while and get the prizes previously mentioned.
     

    TheDan

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    The article doesn't even mention the scale of the attack. Individual workstations got ransomed? Who cares... If it got into county records database or similar, well that's actually noteworthy.
     

    oldag

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    The grid is fairly vulnerable. NERC is working hard to prod utilities and generators to get up to speed.
     

    birddog

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    The grid is fairly vulnerable. NERC is working hard to prod utilities and generators to get up to speed.

    SCADA is one of my forte’s.

    Turning off the lights is child’s play. Not for long though, a lot is being done to rectify the problem.
     

    txtanut

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    Hence the reason for the groundswell of regulatory compliance not that long ago. And now look at it, it’s everywhere. As it should be in today’s day and age.

    If companies won’t step up to the plate and do what’s right, make them suffer for it. But they will pay. One way or another.

    An employee that clicks embedded links with abandon should be fired. That, will fix the troublemakers.


    Unfortunately you can't fire an elected official.
     

    txtanut

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    The article doesn't even mention the scale of the attack. Individual workstations got ransomed? Who cares... If it got into county records database or similar, well that's actually noteworthy.
    I know Grayson county and the City of Keene were hit. Have not heard of the others yet.
     

    Dawico

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    City of Lampasas Utilities got hit but nothing else that I have heard of here. Should have it back up completely tomorrow.

    Company I used to work for got hit. Boss/ owner opened a link that came across as potential work.

    It just got a small percentage of our files but everything was backed up so it just took our tech guy a few hours to clean it all up. Plus it was all archive files anyways, nothing current.

    Think they were asking for $1,200 to release it. Cheap enough to just pay if it wasn't backed up or was important.
     

    TheDan

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    clean-machine.gif
     
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