Ransomware Demands Increase for Municipalities

The trend of hitting local municipalities with ransomware attacks has continued this summer, along with increased monetary demands. In a recent attack, a small city outside of Jacksonville, Florida had its computers totally disabled when a hacker infiltrated its system and demanded bitcoin in exchange for the city’s data. For several days, the city attempted to resolve the issue without paying by working with the FBI and a security consultant. While these attempts may have eventually been successful, the city ultimately determined that paying the Continue Reading

Preparing Private Companies for Politically Motivated Cyberattacks

Law firms in the midst of large and publicly reported M&A deals, accounting firms during return season, and Facebook at just about any moment, should all assume that they are being targeted by hackers. However, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) announcement that Iranian regime actors and proxies have been using “wiper” attacks adds a new indicator: geopolitical importance during politically sensitive times. The director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a tweet late last week notifying the public that Iran is… Continue Reading

Mandatory Reporting and “Cyber Mission Forces” Created in 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)

Beyond appropriating $560,000,000,000 for military spending for 2015, the Defense Authorization Act passed this month expands the role of the military in wide range of areas, including strategic programs in outer space, budgeting and accounting for a new “cyber mission” major force program category, and new mandatory reporting of “cyber incidents” by government contractors and agencies. Title XVI, Subtitle C of the Senate Amendment to H.R. 3979, “Cyber-Related Matters,” first directs the Secretary of Defense to submit with the 2017 budget a new program for… Continue Reading