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posted by Fnord666 on Monday August 26 2019, @04:34AM   Printer-friendly
from the pay-in-siezed-bitcoins dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow2718

Texas is currently fighting an unprecedented wave of ransomware attacks that has targeted local government entities in the state, with at least 23 impacted by the attacks.

Details are at a minimum at the moment as the Department of Information Resources (DIR) leads the response and investigation into the attacks. Texas released a brief notification advising affected local jurisdictions to call the state's Division of Emergency Management for assistance.

The attacks started in the morning of August 16 and based on the collected evidence appear to have been conducted by a single threat actor.

The number of confirmed victims is 23 and the department believes that this is how many entities were "actually or potentially impacted;" all of them have been notified.

The origin of this attack is currently unknown, but is being investigated by local Texas authorities such as the DIR, Texas Division of Emergency Management, and Texas Military Department.

Also involved in the investigation are federal agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation – Cyber, and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

In its original statement released late Friday, DIR says that while investigations into the origins of the attack are ongoing, their main priority is to assist in the response and recovery of affected entities.

Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/coordinated-ransomware-attack-in-texas-hits-23-local-governments/


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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by hendrikboom on Monday August 26 2019, @01:06PM

    by hendrikboom (1125) Subscriber Badge on Monday August 26 2019, @01:06PM (#885619) Homepage Journal

    When will people learn about backups?

    The first ransom attack I heard of was in the 70's, carried out by a Shell Oil employee. He walked out of the Rotterdam computer centre with the operational hard drive and the backup, left the country, and demanded a million in ransom. (I forget which currency. maybe guilders.)

    It took a day for the system to be up and running again. Turns out they had another backup he didn't know about.

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