TheNew York Times reported last week on what it called a “summer of crippling ransomware attacks” on Texas cities. Hackers are simultaneously holding hostage computer systems in 22 cities across the state and demanding millions of dollars. Most of the targets are small towns with limited resources and are least likely to update their cybersecurity systems or back up their data, according to the Times.
This is another reminder of the vulnerability of IT systems. Lean cybersecurity budgets in the public sector make those systems particularly susceptible to breaches. In light of these latest incidences, here is a blog post I published last year about a ransomware attack on Atlanta’s IT system.…