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Ransomware Completely Shuts Down Ohio Town Government (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: In another interesting example of what happens when you don't manage your backups correctly, the Licking County government offices, including the police force, have been shut down by ransomware. Although details are sparse, it's clear that someone in the office caught a bug in a phishing scam or by downloading it and now their servers are locked up. Wrote Kent Mallett of the Newark Advocate: "The virus, accompanied by a financial demand, is labeled ransomware, which has hit several local governments in Ohio and was the subject of a warning from the state auditor last summer. All county offices remain open, but online access and landline telephones are not available for those on the county system. The shutdown is expected to continue at least the rest of the week." The county government offices, including 911 dispatch, currently must work without computers or office phones. "The public can still call 911 for emergency police, fire or medical response," wrote Mallett.
Can a new administration with no concern for political correctness finally turn the NSA loose on finding ransomware perpetrators? Since we in here have decided that their Internet surveillance efforts are omnipotent, they should be able to trace a surveilled Bitcoin payment back to them. Then we hire local talent for "wet work" in killing them off in some eye-catching manner, dissuading others from entering the business.
Sadly, a typical reaction today... Fire/LockUp/Execute Everyone Even Remotely Connected to Scandal-De-Jure...FFS, most of these same commenters also want to "shrink government", "cut taxes", etc. NONE of which is going to: improve training and testing; expand, fund and enforce standards across municipalities; enhance LEO capabilities to track and prosecute attackers. But - Hey! - we get to sound awful tough!!