Cyberattack Paralyzes Atlanta

from the article:

"Atlanta's municipal government has been brought to its knees since Thursday morning by a ransomware attack - one of the most sustained and consequential cyberattacks ever launched against an American city."

"The digital attack once again laid bare the vulnerabilities of governments as they rely on computer networks for day to day operations."

'"We are dealing with a hostage situation," the Mayor said.'


https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/27/us/cyberattack-atlanta-ransomware.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

Quote: lilredrooster

... governments ... rely on computer networks for day to day operations.

It will be interesting to see if they can locate the computer workstation that "left the door open." The article also warned city employees to check their personal data, as so many pay bills or check their bank accounts during lunch hours and breaks. And, once it gets to houses, kids might carry infected smart (?) phones to school, sharing data with all their friends. This could get very ugly before everything is said and done.

I know someone who works IT at a state agency in Florida. They had a similar thing happen, but a safe backup allowed them to recover with almost no loss of data. (Not sure of all the details.) It took a few days with nobody having any computer access. But, most interesting to me was how the department head went on a tear the whole time, saying that heads would roll when they determined how this could happen. That is, until the IT staff isolated the computer responsible and determined it was someone in the executive suite. I guess heads don't roll if it's a blockhead.